Defiant as Hell
by Hearns
Summary: Everyone talks about the Battle of Defiance and how it changed the world. No one talks about the fifteen days starting with the Ceasefire started by the "Defiant Few" and the end of the war. These are those stories. Two of the Defiant Few recount their past to their friends and Families. Ch 9 Up.
1. Chapter 1

Defiant as Hell by Hearns

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This story takes place just after the episode: Serpents Egg

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_On the road to a little town called Defiance_

* * *

Nariah was sitting in the backseat of her parent's roller. For the past hour she had been reading the old text book that her father had given her to read. Every couple of klicks either her mother or father would have her read a section aloud. So realizing that she would be in levels of deep shtako if she didn't start reading a paragraph aloud, Nariah quickly chose one and read aloud to her parents and very annoying brother Nolan.

"The seven species had no idea that when they started their journey over five thousand years ago that they would find a world that was already occupied. The Votan races soon found that their arrival changed everything for them. They now had to deal with the concept that their migration across the stars would bring about a considerable shift in their societies in some a major and minor ways of life." That was when Nariah looked up and looked at her mom. "Mom..." Nariah looked at the image at the top of the page of several Votan individuals all holding hands. One of them was an Irathient female... an Irathient like herself. "Do you remember what our home world was like?" Nariah looked out of the window of the roller at the landscape the moved before her.

"A little like Earth, and a... Little not like Earth..." Nariah's mother said turning to look back at her daughter. "I was just a child when we boarded the ships for here; I was just a little older than your brother. That was before the Pale Wars and the Arkfall took place." This was when concern started to set in. "Why do you ask?"

"Because... Mother..." Nariah held up the history book and showed the picture. "What happened to make our people come here?"

"Our Sun was dying and we were forced to leave the land of our birth." Nariah's mother said with sadness. "It wasn't something that our people took lightly, but in a way some of felt that Irzu was putting us on a path for something greater."

"I just wished those lessons wouldn't have been learned at the cost of so many lives and the amount of blood split over land that would soon become alien to all." Nariah's father said looking up at her in the mirror.

"What happened Father?" This is when Nolan spoke up.

There was a long sigh from their father before he continued. "The Arkfall and then after that the Battle of Defiance." There was a puff from their father as he chewed on his next words before speaking again. "That was before I went toe to toe with the Iron Demons of the EMC 9th." With that Nariah flipped through several pages of the book until she hit the section on the Battle of Defiance.

"Father you fought at this battle." Nariah turned the book around and held it up so that her father could see it in the review mirror.

"Yes I did... I served with several fellow Irathient rangers at that time. Couldn't stand the Castithans running the operations there. Not since the bad blood that took place when they landed on Irath and enslaved several thousand of our people centuries ago." With that her father got quiet. "Castithans still see us as a servant people or as savages, but some of them don't act as the Humans call: Douchbags." Her father's use of a human word took Nariah back some. "But that is a rarity." This was when Nariah's mother reached out and touched their father on the arm. "At the Battle of Defiance, you knew who the Douchbags were and who weren't and those who came out of that battle and chose to save lives were not the Douchbags, Irzu chose to send a message that day and those who heard it took action."

"My Love, what brings this up? You haven't spoken of the war in years or at least when you haven't met up with those you served beside." Nariah's mother spoke with concern.

"The sign on the road to the community we are heading to... It said Defiance."

"Oh..."

"That and Sukar, the leader of the Spirit Riders wanted to know what I knew of a man named Joshua Nolan." Nariah's father said looking over at his wife.

"What did you say to him?" Nariah's mother said sensing something deeper going on.

"There were many humans named Nolan I knew from the war. I just had to get to know the one he was speaking of Aren." With that her father reached out and patted her mom on the hand. "Don't worry. The main reason I am heading to this community is to pick up some supplies to repair my equipment for the lab."

"Hey... I am not arguing with a man who keeps poisonous serpents as pets." Their mother raised her hand up.

"Everything is Poisonous; it just depends on how it is used. Sometimes it can be used to hurt, in other cases the poison can be used to heal. But that is the molecular chemist in me speaking." Nariah's father said grinning.

"Looks like we are coming up on the Valley." Nariah's mother said looking at the window. "Okay everyone, make sure that your Hailers are working, and remember to meet back at the Roller encase we get lost." Nariah understood.

"If you don't Little Wolf will come and eat you." Nolan lunged at her and she screamed. Nariah had heard about Little Wolf off and on from the kids in the Irathian community. The story went that she was a Cannibal that liked the flesh of people. If you were not nice or did bad things, she would come and eat you. It was said that she had eaten Sukar's daughter Rynn after she had gone after some innocent human girl. The last thing Nariah wanted was to be turned into a meal by this flesh eating Irathian.

"Nolan... Behave yourself and stop acting like some Hellbug in search of a meal." Nariah and Nolan's mother turned around in the seat to scold her bother.

"I guess who is going to be stuck with your mother during this trip." Nariah's father said as he shook his head as they neared the checkpoint into the settlement.

* * *

Nariah was walking with her father. Somehow that little outburst that her brother Nolan had made had gotten him stuck being with their mother. As they made their way through the alleys of Defiance she started to notice something.

People were getting out of their way.

More like running for cover.

Even children were hiding behind their mothers.

Nariah knew her father served during the war, but people didn't get this scared of others unless... Nariah turned to look behind her. Was Little Wolf following them? With that she sprinted next to her dad and hung close.

"Hey there little one... what is wrong?" Nariah's father said concerned.

"They are acting like we are about to eat them, or is it something else? Like is Little Wolf following us!?" There was a deep sigh from her father.

"This takes place in some towns and settlements. . . Given what happened during the war and possible from what the Spirit Riders have been doing in the local area. They tend to be rough to the locals"

"So they are scared of us? But we are not Spirit Riders! And I don't stink like them." Nariah didn't want to be scary, that was when a ball rolled in-front of her and stopped at her feet. She reached down to pick it up and held it in her hands before seeing the child that had kicked it in her direction. It was a young white skinned Castithans girl with blue eyes. The girl looked scared. Like a deer in the field when the alert lights went on around her house. "Is this yours?" Nariah said in her best Casti. The only other phrase she knew in Casti was 'Where is the Bathroom?' Nariah wished she hadn't messed up and said the latter. That was when the girl took off running away. "Wait... don't you want your ball back." And Nariah went off running right before her father could reach down and grab her.

* * *

Irisa was on her daily patrol around Defiance. Despite how she felt about her father Nolan. . . Sukar was right. He was only Human, and doing thing that a human father understood what was needed for his daughter. That was part of their problem now. He still saw her as that scared girl that he and his fellow Earth military unit has rescued from that Votan cult, but now to some degree he was coming to terms that she was a young Irathian woman.

Shtako, she had lost her virginity to Tommy on the floor if the Lawkeeper's office in a moment of passionate intimate emotional connection.

Tommy. . . The very person who she had threatened to kill while was in the Lawkeeper's holding cell. Shtako. Irisa stopped cold. The same person that had saved her life from the Volge. The same man who made her feel safe in his Irzu colored arms after their copulation as she breathed in his sweaty scent. The person that was just as broken as her. . . That had saved her from herself when she had confronted the man that had turned her childhood to shtako and promptly given the Asshole a few well deserved kicks on her behalf.

The one she was in love with.

Irzu . . . You could have told me that the man whose arms I was in during those dreams would be the person I would come to love. Shtako from all of those visions you gave me when I had my first bleed, that scared me of being violated that way, wasn't a violation but the first time I would have sex.

Shtako. Irzu. . . If you are going to let me look up and down the stream of time, please give me some context to work with so that I don't feel as lost as I am at times.

Irisa kicked at the ground. She hated having visions that provided no context for what they meant. It was with what had happened with Rynn. Irisa sensed that the two years of Rynn's sentence would past fast, but in the time of the trip to Las Vegas, Irisa hadn't seen that.

At least Rynn would find happiness ahead in her life with her new traveling companion and put those damn Hellbugs under some control that were popping up all over the place on the West Coast.

That was when Irisa heard a scream.

Not any scream.

A child's scream!

Shtako! Irisa swore that if anything happened to a child, that she would be there to stop it the same way that Nolan had stopped it for her.

No one, absolutely no one should take away the innocence of a child away as it had happened to her or Tommy.

With that single thought on her mind, Irisa took off running in the direction of the scream.

* * *

Nariah didn't like how this was looking. She wasn't expecting to run into this many large and scary kids. She gulped hard as she dropped the ball.

"What do we have here... a little I-rath." One of the boys said as he moved towards her.

"Watch out they tend to bite." Said a young Casti boy getting in front of Nariah's and cutting off her path of escape from the ever growing gang of hostile children.

"Why did your people try to take away my father's honor?" A Casti girl said moving in.

"What?" Nariah said in her best Human as she started to move backwards as she was slowly realized that she was being backed into a corner.

"My father had to endure the trials to give back the honor to the entire Canton here in Defiance." The girl said angrily.

"I am not this person..." Nariah yelled out to the kids.

"Parse... Man I don't want to be around when this girl's folks come looking for her."

"Maybe we should show this girl a lesson." the boy named Parse said pulling out a small knife. Nariah screamed. The next thing she felt was a pair of hands grabbing onto her clothes and hair and shoving her back into a wall.

"All I wanted was to give back your ball." Nariah screamed out as she felt the blade be put against her hair and the boy started to cut at one of her braids. That was when a loud ka-thunk sound could be heard hitting the wall above her head.

"Leave the girl alone." The children looked at the knife and with fear before all slowly turning around to see a woman standing at the end of the small alleyway. A pissed Iraithain woman with short cut red hair and a stare that would make a Hellbug dump a huge load of shtako the size of a house and run away in fear to find the deepest hole it could find.

The Casti Children looked at each other and slowly backed away from Nariah as Iraithain woman slowly approached. "You children run home to your families." Then taking the knife out of the wall above Nariah's head the Iraithain woman pointed it at the Nariah. "You little one, come with me." The words were said in full Irath...

Nariah didn't want to argue there as she sprinted behind the woman and didn't look back at the children who had tried to hurt her.

"Thank you..." Nariah said keeping pace with the woman who had sheathed the blade into the knife harness on her back.

"Where are your parents little one?" The woman said scanning the area for danger. Her body language spoke of danger and of power.

"I was with my father in the market, but we became separated when i tried to give that girl back her ball." Nariah said until she patted on her shirt and felt that her hailer was missing. "Oh no.. My hailer... it's missing, without it I can't call my Mom or Dad." The woman knelt down to her eye level.

"Do you know the frequency that your parents use?" The Iriathian woman said as Nariah got a good look at her and saw the badge on her left shoulder. A Lawkeeper...

"Yes... You are a Lawkeeper?" Nariah looked at this figure in a new light. This was a person of status in this community. "How did you become a Lawkeeper?"

"Nolan..." The name was said... If that was an answer in itself.

"That is my Brother's name..."

"It is?" With that the Irathian Lawkeeper said looking around. "How did he become to be named Nolan?"

"He as named after a friend my Father served with during the War. At the battle of Defiance." This caught the Lawkeeper's attention.

"Joshua Nolan?" The question caught Nariah's attention.

"Yes... You know of him?" Nariah jumped seeing a connection between this woman and her father.

"He is the reason that I wear the badge." With that Nariah reached out and took the Iriathian's hand and saw the cloth sweatbands around her wrists and a bit of scar peeking through.

"My dad worked as a medic he said that Nolan took in a girl who had scars on her wrists and that she was treated for some poisoning that took place and that he gave her a bowl of soup."

"What is your father's name little one?" This had the Irath woman's attention.

"Conte Troyens." That was when the woman reached over and got on her hailer and made a call to someone.

"Nolan... This is Irisa... Listen.. Do you know an Irath from the battle of Defiance named Conte Troyens." It took a moment for a voice to respond.

"Yeah... I do. What is up Irisa?" The voice said catching the woman's attention.

"Nolan... I think that your friend is in town and I might be with his daughter." Irisa looked at Nariah. "What was the last place that your saw your father?"

"I think it was around the market area, near one of the place that Vo and Po tech stuff is sold."

"Did you get that Nolan?" Irisa said over the Hailer.

"I did Irisa... What is the girl's name?" The voice said back.

"Nariah... Nariah Troyens." Nariah called out her name to the Hailer.

"Okay... Irisa, head back to the Lawkeepers office and I will meet you back there. I think I know where to find Nariah's father." With that Irisa looked at Nariah and studied her before she spoke again.

"Your father... does he have a scar on his right arm from the back of his middle finger to his lowest arm marking?"

"You mean the scar he got from a girl who got bit by a snake... yeah... he tells the story all the time. Why do you ask?"

"Because when I was your age after Nolan saved me. I got scared when your father tried to treat me and I gave him the scar as a result." Nariah's eyes went wide. "It wasn't one of my finer moments but Nolan kept me calm enough that he was able to get the poison out of my system. Now Nariah come with me and tell me some of what your father has been up to and I will tell you about Some of Nolan's life as an Arkhunter before he became a Lawkeeper."

"Wow... You will do that!" Nariah said as she followed Irisa the Lawkeeper to her place of work.

"I will." Irisa said sensing some kinship with the girl.

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Let me know what you think of the story so far.

Please post a review.

I am planning on making this a longer story so hopefully next chapter you all will get some back story on how Nolan and Conte met during the war.

Hearns


	2. Chapter 2

_Parenting Post-Arkfall_

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Conte Troyens, former member of the Votan Military, formerly known as being one of the "Cress Knives" Rangers in the Votan Ekaru Kome Army Division was doing his best to track his daughter Nariah through the market space of Defiance. Now a soldier with his expertise could track a "sloppy" Indogene Tech from one side of a transport cruiser to another just by scent alone. Most humans tended to leave messes scent trails in their wake, but a few and a very rare few could give an Irathian such as himself "the slip" across the wilderness of this planet during his time in the Votan military.

But none of that mattered now when suddenly realizing that his youngest child Nariah had just performed the type of Escape and Evade tactics that would have made her father proud...

Except it had been done in the middle of a busy marketplace as he did his best to track her trail through the ever changing landscape of individuals made up of the Eight Races.

The only thing he had found in the past few minutes had been Nariah's Hailer and he had prayed that he would find her soon. He had headed by the Roller in hopes that Nariah would show up. That was when Irzu intervened.

"Conte..." A voice called out. It took the former Irathian solder to turn around and at that moment he recognized the face.

"Nolan... Joshua Nolan..." Conte spoke out seeing his old friend and former enemy standing before him. "It has been many years since I have seen you. What have you been up to?" Conte said looking Nolan as he leaned against the old red Toyota Hilux Conte had nursed back to operation when he had found it after the war.

"The Usual... did a little bounty hunting, a little Ark hunting, some gun slinging, some tracking. That was until a Ark find went south and me and Irisa came here to Defiance, we've been here since." That was when Conte noticed the badge on Nolan's belt.

"Became a Lawkeeper from what I can see." Nolan looked down at the badge on his belt.

"Yeah... and Irisa became one of my deputies." The old solder sighed. "So... What brings you to this neck of the woods?" Conte caught the reference and understood the jargon Nolan was using.

"To get some supplies for my bio-lab. My darn centrifuge that I have been using had one of its gears lock up and the motor to refrigeration unit is on its last legs. Other than that my wife wanted to do some trading and shopping for some new clothes for our kids. She has family with the local Irathian settlement."

"Wait a sec you live here?" Nolan exclaimed looking at his fellow brother of the Defiant Few.

Yeah, I moved here a few years ago after the immunization mess went down. Did my best to treat injuries and worked with the local healers to immunize our children. Amazing what happens when you bless a power injector by the elders to be a divine weapon against the spirits of the Child Stealers and the Womb Eater."

"Yeah." Nolan said "That was some adventure we went through in meeting up with you guys after I had to fight to protect Irisa. Thanks for helping to hide us."

"It was nothing given that the two of you had souls that needed to be healed after all of the horrors that you both went through. I never thought that you two would remain hidden as long as you two did." Conte said sensing that the return of his daughter would happen soon. That is if she remembered where they parked the roller.

"So you are a father now. So what are their names?" Nolan said wanting to catch up with his old friend.

"My oldest is named Nolan and my daughter is named Nariah."

"Nolan... As in..."

"After you old friend. Not many people would go into that shtako to save a child."

"Yeah..." Nolan remembered the incident that started the origin of the Defiant few. "Little Elanore changed everything that day."

"Yes..." Conte said looking around to see a group of Casti and Humans play a hybrid game of Indogene Hopscotch. "I think that is the main reason that there are children today walking around in peace and not suffering the pain of war." Nolan nodded in agreement.

"Yeah... Ran into Renee Kirby and her daughter Eleanor down in Yuma a few years back. It was interesting sharing parenting tips with someone who was also raising a Votan child." There was a soft grin across the faces of the two fathers. "That was an experience seeing Irisa bond with someone with roughly the same background she had being raised by humans and having the same questions of why they were not raised by their own people."

"Well that was the hardest thing for them to understand."

"Well I better write Renee a letter off to warn her about the future teenage rebellion that will be occurring with Eleanor."

"Well, children not matter what their race will find ways to drive us crazy, no matter what age they are." Nolan agreed.

"I remember the first time Irisa got sick, and I raced to the first town to find a doctor to treat her and all it turned out to be was a bad case of gas, or the time that she wanted their first pet."

"Or the time that your little one gets in their first fight with another kid."

"Yeah, I remember going through that with Irisa, that girl did know when to pick her fights." That was when Nolan handed over his Hailer to Conte. "Oh and talking about Irisa, she ran into your missing little one while out on patrol." With that Nolan motioned for Conte to speak into it.

"Nariah..." Conte was worried when there wasn't a response back then.

"Father... I'm here I just had to wipe off my hands from eating my half of Irisa's Churky sandwich." The little girl's voice rang out in fluent Irithan.

"Are you okay?" Conte was worried but had wondered what had happened after his daughter had chased after that Casti girl.

"I am now... I had a run in with some mean children, but Irisa saved me. Did you know that she is a Lawkeeper and she throws knives! That is so great!"

"That is good my little one." With that Conte looked back at his friend. "Thank you Nolan..." There was a deep sigh of relief in the Irithan's voice as he saw a golden haired human female walking over their way.

"Nolan... I need to talk with you about the updates to the defense system." That was when she looked from Nolan to himself. "Oh, are you on a case?" The woman said looking between the two.

"No, actually wrapping up one. Amanda... This is an old friend of mine from back in the old days. Conte Troyens... Mayor Amanda Rosewater."

"Conte Troyens..." The woman offered her hand out but stopped mid way as she raised both hands up and said: "Eseneziri." Conte grinned at that and responded in kind back to her.

"I am surprised that you performed the traditional greeting of my people. But as a leader of the settlement I suspect that you do your best to ensure the safety of your people."

"I do... It hasn't been easy, but the rewards have been great as a result." the mayor said looking back to her Lawkeeper. "So how do you know Mr. Troyens from?"

"From the Battle of Defiance." Nolan said with weight in his voice.

"We met during the rescuing of the civilians. Some of my unit hooked with some of Nolan's here as we started to pull individuals out of the wreckage. Both of our units stayed close to each other especially when the that shtako went down in Denver while we doing our best to keep the truth of what happened at the Battle of Defiance alive so it could spread." Conte said with deep heaviness in his voice.

"The Truth of the Battle of Defiance?" Amanda's attention shifted back and forth from Nolan to him and back to Nolan again. "Wait... What went down at the Battle and in Denver?" There was a sudden realization of a subject that Nolan may have stated to her about why a Human male had a teenaged Iriathian with him. "Does this have to do with where you saved Irisa from?"

"Yes." Both soldiers said at the same time.

"It is a long story but you better need a bottle of strong scotch with you when you hear the gory details." Conte said shaking his head. "What happened to those kids and those soldiers... Nolan I am glad that you shot those bastards the way you did, because if you didn't, I would have tied the lot up and dragged them to their deaths behind a roller from Denver to the Cancun coast." There was a deep sigh from Conte when he said that.

"How many friends did we lose during that mess?" Nolan said feeling tired.

"Too many my friend. Too many..." Conte said looking down at the hailer in his hand. "Want to catch up on the way to your office?"

"Yeah, and I want to know more about this wife you have, because if I remember right you got slapped quite a few times by a few females." Nolan chuckled.

"Yeah... Aren did slap me when we first met..." That was when he corrected himself. "Well more accurate punched my lights out. Females in some cultures don't like being looked at while bathing. But Castithans, being seen naked while bathing, it's their social thing."

"Yeah... I remember... I am still creeped out remembering that Castithan Private's privates when he stood to salute me."

"There are some genitalia that should never be seen by members of either sex."

"Too true brother, too true." Nolan said starting his walk to the Lawkeepers office. "But the guy did know how to get the plumbing fixed and knew how to make a proper bath."

"Trust me that was the first time in weeks I didn't smell like shtako." The two men chuckled remembering the smell and the scent of the soapy water that got them clean.

* * *

Nariah was sitting on the ledge of the second floor of the Lawkeepers office. It was strange, but also so exciting

Irisa seemed so normal... But yet emanated a dangerous aura with her animal like movements.

"So... You were an Ark Hunter?" Nariah said as she leaned over to study the book that Irisa had been writing in. Mostly it had images of various placed and people. Mostly the last few images in the book were of a dark skinned human in a dark vest in various poses with the words: Tommy - Irzu's Protective Shadow. But as Nariah watched the older Iraithian flip through the book till she found some images of what looked to some Arkfall.

"I was... It was a way for me and Nolan to make some money. It wasn't enough from time to time, but we had some adventures going through crashed Arks and salvage what we needed. But Arkfalls tended to happen several times a year. Mostly it was a race to get there before others could get to the find." There was a long sigh as Irisa flipped to a page where an image of a crashed Ark could be seen. "This was one of the first Arks Nolan walked me through. It had been pretty much picked over and the hull was about to be sold as scrap." Nariah watched as Irisa sat next to her. "But, Nolan had talked the owner to let us walk through it with him so that I could learn how to move through an Arkfall. I think I was about nine, maybe ten at the time. But it was learning how to work through the ship and not getting lost which was the big thing, considering that some of the Fall happens to be the size of small town." Nariah looked at the small specks in some of the drawings and realized that those were people.

"Wow..." Nariah said as she took another bite of the sandwich.

"Yeah... Ark hunting isn't for the novice. You need to have some skills, such as hunting, tracking. The occasional picking of locks and knowing how to fight comes in handy in the trade. The Big thing that one has to deal with is the fact that someone might jump your claim before you can ticket the items you salvage."

"Did you run into anyone that jumped your claim?" Irisa got quite and shifted her weight some.

"Yeah... It happened a few times. And sometimes, individual were willing to share... Other times, they just shot at you." Irisa looked down and pulled up her shirt some to reveal a small scar on her belly. "The last claim that me and Nolan did, I got shot and nearly died. If it wasn't for Nolan carrying me through the woods near here... I would have died. In the process, we lost the claim but I think Irzu wanted us here for a grater reason." This was when Irisa took the book and flipped to a page where a postcard been placed in neatly and showed it to her. "I wanted to see the beaches of Antarctica, but things change in one's life. Irzu choose for me to be here so I could do something … I do not know what it is, but I haven't reached that bend in the river at this time."

"We'll you helped find me when I was in trouble. I am thankful for that." Nariah said as she looked up at huge arch that dominated over the city. "I wonder how they built that?" Irisa looked at the huge structure that solid over the town of Defiance.

"I do not know… but Nolan was born here many years ago and it was here when he was a boy. The most powerful memory he has of it is the day the Votans arrived." There was something that Irisa wasn't saying but it was probably grown up stuff, but for Nariah it was looking at the people walking by below that had her attention, the dark skinned human Lawkeeper was walked by as he looked up to see her and Irisa and smiled. The Lawkeeper waved then he continued on his patrol. That was when Irisa asked her a question. "Tell me about the Irathian community you are from? What are they like?"

"Well I will tell you only if you tell me how you are able to throw knives." Nariah said stating her terms.

"Why would you want to know that?" Irisa said studying the girl.

"Because... Because I don't want to be picked upon by those who want to hurt me!" There was a long sigh from the elder Irath.

"I was like you once... Many years ago I was picked upon those who wanted to hurt me. Did things to me that no child should ever experience."

"What happened?"

"Someone saved my life. Took me a long time to feel safe again, but the only reason that I got to use a weapon was that I had to show maturity and the knowledge that these were not toys." Nariah gulped hard hearing those last words. "They're tools... tools that only should be used to protect yourself or others who are in danger." Nariah felt Irisa staring right into her soul with her eyes. Being grounded by her parents and sent to bed without any dinner didn't feel this scary when she hid under the house for several hours when she got angry at her brother for taking her doll. "You cannot take back a throw. Once it takes place... Once it hits a target. Like a nail being hammered into a board, it can never be undone and hole cannot be uncreated." Nariah gulped at this statement.

"Then why did you throw the blade at those children?"

"I wasn't aiming at the children." Irisa said with coldness in her eyes that felt colder than any winter night. "I was aiming at the very large spot above your heads!" Nariah remembered that the blade had struck... Above her... That was when Irisa pulled one of her blades out its sheath and presented it to her. The blade was thin, had no handle, and only looked to be sharp on at the very tip of the blade. The rest of the blade looked to be just a piece of flattened metal. "Look at the blade... this is a tool for stabbing things, hurting people. Not to be used without provocation. The only reason it was drawn was because there was another blade drawn." with that Irisa touched the now damaged braid of hair on Nariah's head. The boy had the blade had gotten the point with the impact of the blade right above him. "Here is a point; throwing knives are effective for a novice or even an expert at the range of seven, eleven, and fifteen feet for any accuracy. And I aim with my elbow for goodness sakes. You want to hit what you want to hit and not something or someone else." The ka-thunk sound the blade had made repeated its echo in her head as she handed the blade back to the Lawkeeper deputy and thought long and hard about her experience. That was when she moved in and hugged Irisa who in a way of acceptance. That was when Irisa's touch changed from being cold to being warm and a little nervous as her back was stroked with gentle ease.

With that Nariah started to tell about the small village she was from. How everyone had their family huts. That they had a fixer that repaired tools, some general farmers that grew crops, a few elders. But mostly Nariah talked about her friends and her dad. It was like Nariah was telling Irisa about some far off land full of adventure. After a long time Irisa asked about the Spirit Riders. Nariah got to the point how she felt about that segment of the Irathian community.

"They are a bit rough and we, their fellow Irathians wish that they bathed more. My friend Silk, her father was a Spirit Rider, but he was killed by the Volge and she had been sad. Mostly I think that the only reason she isn't more upset is that Sukar avenged his death beside the Irathian Little Wolf. I wonder what Little Wolf is like? I mean… does she eat people? Can she see the future? Does she know every bad thing you did in your past?" Irisa reached over and brushed some of Nariah's hair out if her face as she looked down at the ground. Looking up at Irisa there was a strange look on her face as she closed her eyes and winced a little before looking back at her.

"Nariah, you were right about Little Wolf, except for one thing." Nariah was scared at this.

"What was I wrong about?"

"She doesn't eat people." Nariah looked at Irisa concerned. "Never did... Never will."

"How do you know that?" Nariah wondered how Irisa knew that piece of information.

"Because..." Irisa was caught off when Sukar's voice called out from below.

"Little Wolf..." Nariah looked at Irisa in horror that was before winced and groaned in anger. "So... speaking to a troublesome child?"

"Because... I didn't want to ride with Spirit Riders because of their smell..I stated I was a cannibal and threatened to eat them if they didn't leave me and my father alone." Irisa calmed down by taking a deep breath before she yelled out in full Irathian. "Sukar... I had a vision of this little one's future you piece of shtako and I was about to tell her about it. Now if you want to lose your head in some accident of die before your time, you better leave so that I can finish telling it to her." With those words Sukar quickly made himself get scarce just as a cart full off wood cutting and carving equipment passed by him. The look on Sukar's face spoke volumes as he gave the cart merchant the widest berth ever by an Iriathian in the history of the planet. Nariah's jaw hit the ground from the second story structure as she turned to look at Irisa.

"You had a vision of my future... what was it?" Nariah was scared but also interested at seeing an individual that the elders spoke of with reverence whenever it was time to hear stories of the old world.

"Well, it was of you when you were older, giving a speech. You need to work on your English some more when you are younger, but you even gained my respect." Irisa bowed her head in respect.

"Was I a leader?" Nariah seemed amazed.

"No, but one who inspires leaders to do great things."

"Oh, what does that mean?" Nariah said confused. What was a person that could inspire leaders, but wasn't a leader?

"It means... the path before you and behind you will make sense soon." That was when Irisa pointed to the street below. Nariah looked to see her father below holding up her hailer waving it at her.

"It means that I am in trouble with my dad, isn't it!" The nod just confirmed it.

"Well, it isn't of the vision when your father nearly walks in on you after you have sex with your boyfriend for the first time. I am counting my blessings on that one." Nariah looked concerned. "My Boyfriend and not yours and he has a lot to learn about Irathian relationship customs. That is on my end, not yours."

"Oh..." After a long time Nariah asked Irisa a question. "Was he the boy that waved at us while we were looking at the people pass by?" With that Irisa just shoved her ahead of her to take her downstairs. "Hey I was just asking... He looked kinda of nice for boy with a single skin tone."

* * *

Conte watched as his daughter came down the stairs of the loft above the Lawkeeper's office. It took him a moment to fully recognize Irisa.

"Irisa... You have grown..." Conte said in English.

"I have, and also wiser from the experiences I have lived." Irisa said looking at the man who during those first few days after she had been rescued from that cult in Denver had worked with the humans to nurse her back to health. That was when she moved close and came in for a hug. "I am so sorry about the scar I gave you." Irisa was still Irisa. A creature of extremes and she always smelled you to see if she could place where she had run into before. It was her way of coping with what had happened to her and if she saw you as a threat. Well Conte had the scar on his arm as a perfect reminder of what would happen if she didn't like you. That was when Irisa relaxed and stepped back some. "I believe that you lost someone." Irisa moved away and Nariah came around her and right into her father's arms.

"Nariah... You know you shouldn't have run off like that. I was so worried." Nariah hugged her father tight as she breathed in his scent.

"I know, but I understand now that I should be more careful." Nariah said as she pulled away to look into her father's golden eyes.

"Listen... how about you come back here after you get your trading done, and we can catch up on what the other has been doing." Nolan said as father and daughter were standing hand in hand with each other.

"That and a chance for you to meet my wife and your namesake." That was when Nolan reached out and shook his friend's hand.

"Yes, and a chance for my wife to hear how 'No man left standing' Nolan came to save her husband's life." Conte said looking down at his daughter. "You are in trouble little one, but Irzu had you find a friend, I am glad for that, but your mother will scold the both of us when she finds out."

"Okay father." Nariah said looking at Irisa. "Hope to see you soon, Irisa." With that Conte left with his daughter in hand feeling that there was much to be said as the Mayor of defiance looked back his friend as they walked out the door.

"You two must have some interesting stories to tell." She said as they walked to the street.

"You have no idea..."

* * *

TBC

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I hope that you all have liked this chapter and will state tuned for what is next.

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If anyone wants to know, I hit the various Defiance Wikias on the internet to research this story and Renee Kirby is part of the Defiance Canon. If you want to learn more, do a Google search on her name and Defiance and you will find some of the source material I used for this story if anyone else wants to base a story during this time period. It is interesting stuff that got pulled from official sources.

But things are going to get a whole lot more dirty than the way Renee portrayed them in her short Journal entry.

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_To Risi,_

_Thanks for the nice review and the great motivation for wanting another chapter of this ever-growing story. Additional thanks for the help creating the characters for the next chapter for the Human and Votan military units. The knife reference you made had me hitting YouTube to learn about knife throwing and this is what I learned: Knife throwers aim their throws by using their elbows to sight their targets. It gives them better control of where they want the knife to go. This gave me an idea the section in this chapter where Irisa and Nariah talk about throwing knives; I hope that you enjoyed reading that part of the story._

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Next: _Little Richard at Fort Defiance_

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_Please review Below_

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	3. Chapter 3

Note to everyone, this is a pretty emotionally deep chapter.

I had to take a couple of breaks while writing this thing just from breaking down while writing the emotionally heavy flashbacks from Nolan's point of view.

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Defiant Battles, Battles of Defiance - Little Richard Plays Fort Defiance

* * *

Amanda leaned against the wall as she watched Nolan dig through and hand her the status report on the stasis net reconstruction off of his desk.

"Nolan..." Amanda spoke as the Lawkeeper as he sorted through the pile of new wanted posters that had arrived on the last land coach. "I know that you and your friend... Conte served in the military, but the way that you both talked about the Battle of Defiance and Denver. I get the feeling that Irisa's bad place was..."

"Hell on Earth... I mean that literally!" Nolan's stare at Amanda spoke volumes, but it was how Irisa was acting that drove home the point as Deputy LaSalle walked in the door. Whatever had happened in Denver was something that if you became close to Nolan's family affected you.

Deputy LaSalle closed his eyes and was worried as he walked over to Nolan.

"You told her about Denver?" the young deputy knew something but, he wasn't looking at Nolan... he was looking over at Irisa.

"Nolan... Tommy knows about everything that took place in Denver. I told him." This made the elder Lawkeeper look at his daughter. Something was up as Nolan looked drained of energy.

"How much..." Tommy interjected cutting Nolan off.

"That her parents were into some bad stuff and that the pieces of shtako that were hurting her, you shot because if you didn't shoot them... you would have done the same shtako to them as they had done to Irisa of avenge what had been done to her." There was anger in the young Lawkeeper's voice that scared Amanda. It was like he was fighting back a hot rage that would lead to him committing a murder of passion in the name of someone who had been hurt in some horrific way.

"When did you find out?" Nolan said accepting that this dark secret was known by another.

"When you and the Mayor were out of town, dropping off Rynn to Las Vegas." There was a light nod from Nolan. Irisa was quite, and quite from an Irathian meant that they were waiting to strike, being moody, or something that you didn't want to know they were thinking.

"I learned of Tommy's past." Irisa said looking at her fellow deputy. "I'll watch your back. Now I have to talk with Sukar." With that Irisa left to go somewhere as she headed out of the Lawkeeper's office, but to some degree Tommy had cracked through and figured out the young Irath on a level that Amanda only had sensed with her own sister Kenya. But there was something going on that was unspoken but had bonded those two deputies together.

"That was strange." Amanda got the feeling that Nolan, his friend Conte, and now Tommy LaSalle had learned about this chapter of the last days of the war and how it had changed them. "Nolan... listen I..." Nolan moved through and started sorting through reports on his desk and stopped at a document that caught his attention. It was a wanted poster. Hand Drawn with a paper clipped note pinned to it for keeping on file.

_**Thesho Zajino - Species: Castithan, Wanted for Child Torture, Child Slavery, Murder, Attempted Murder, and Adrino Manufacturing using Live Humans and Votans during the Pale Wars.**_

Nolan sighed hard, but saw the message in Irisa's hand.

**_He has been dealt with Nolan. No, he is not dead, he just wishes he was. Irisa._**

"What was that?" Amanda said looking at the image as Nolan moved over the filing cabinet and placed the document in.

"An image of the Shtako that hurt Irisa." Nolan shoved the drawer shut and let the metal drawer's impact echo across the office. Amanda got the feeling that what she had read on the wanted poster was only the condensed version of what had happened in Denver.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Amanda was less doing this as his boss, but as his friend.

"Where do you want me to start?"

"When you met Conte." Amanda got the feeling that they would need at stiff drink to start this. Nolan offered Amanda a seat before he sat behind his desk and leaned forward to clean and neaten his desk. Given the amount of space he was clearing and the way he was placing papers looked to be like a map... or a model...

"Okay... How much do you know about pre-Arkfall San Francisco? The way that the streets were."

"Me and Kenya were born in New York. But I get the general idea."

"You're a New Yorker... I never thought it." Nolan said surprised. Amanda didn't like to bring it up because of the events that left her to raise her sister Kenya back during the dark times of the Pale Wars.

"That was another lifetime ago." Amanda said as Nolan continued with his visual aid.

"Well, 2030 was a long time ago, but to set the mood. It was December around Christmas time and after the events and battle of Oklahoma City the Iron Demons looked and felt like hell. What we didn't know was that a Miracle was about to take place that would be the reason the Defiant Few would make their stand."

* * *

Joshua Nolan of the Iron Demons of the 9th Division felt like hell. Things had not been right since the battle over Oklahoma City. The once lush prairie land now looked like a desert landscape. Nolan didn't want to deal with another alien landscape but he had one. The SF bay area looked like it was another world. The only thing that looked familiar was the fact that most of the Golden Gate Bridge had survived the Arkfall event from nearly a year earlier.

The planet had changed.

He had changed.

The young boy who had witnessed the Votan ships arrive on that spring day in April of 2016 was long gone.

Now it was nearing Christmas time and he didn't feel very joyful.

The civilians Nolan and the rest of the Iron Demons were scared, haggard, and just chewed up. One of them a woman just had a stare that went through you. Like something had died in her. Everyone's ears were still ringing from the shelling that had taken place earlier. This was going to be worse than Oklahoma City, at least the Damn Votans hadn't broken out that Chemical crap... Yet!

Nolan had too many looks like that. Human and Votan... The holiday only made it worse. The Chemo Treks had done a number on the Iron Demons in Oklahoma City. A good number of their unit had been chewed through by that stuff and he had lost a lot of good friends there.

Clovis, a supply guy who could track down anything and literally anything for you... Several guys had thanked him for the Kentucky "apple pie" Moonshine from the past Fourth of July Party. The guy helped Nolan get hold of some St. Louis favorites such as a Crown Candy Kitchen's BLT Sandwich that the guy had shipped in dry ice to the unit in the months before Arkfall took place. The Guy had his connections and knew what people liked. Hell, if he could get you into a Playboy photo shoot and have Miss July sign that issue.

He might have.

There wasn't much of the guy left except for his name tag and a pair of shoes after the Chemical Weapons chewed through him.

CJ, a guy that couldn't feel pain due to a bit of scar tissue in his brain, but could make you laugh as he cooked. The guy wanted to be chef at a five star restaurant and made the Iron Demons happy with the food he served up. The guy could turn Spam, Banana peels, and cheese spread into a meal fit for a king.

He had survived long enough to tell the rest of the unit to turn back before his heart and lungs melted out of his chest, and there was Big Bert,

Bert was the guy with all of the guns. Knew how to make them, clean them, hell shoot them. The guy wasn't from Kentucky... he was from Guntucky. If it was some Votan or Human based weapon you wanted, this was the guy you went to.

Some Teramorphed creature had taken a chunk out of him while dragging him through the chemical trap when they had come across the mess that had decimated the unit.

Bert, had not gone quietly given that they had found the monster dead from a grenade blast... From the inside.

Eddie had done his best to keep Nolan from shooting any Votan he had come across since coming across this commune of Votans and Humans. That mess handmade Nolan hurt in ways he hadn't known of in all of his life. Nolan just wanted to vent his anger out on any Votan he had come across.

Some young half human Irath girl who was in her early teens nearly bore his wrath when she had tripped into him when they had come into Fort Defiance a few days earlier.

Eddie had to stop him from shanking the young girl with his combat knife. The mix of Human and Votan features made her look normal. If you took away the girl's white Irathian markings, she just would have been some normal human teenager interested in boys or maybe girls given her sexuality.

That was when she sprinted back to an elderly human couple and took cover as he heard the words. "Grandma." come out of the girl as she sought safety in their arms.

It wasn't the girl's fault she was born of two worlds and she was scared out her wits for something that was beyond her control when some soldier full of hate of anything alien wanted to hurt her. He looked at his hands and felt sick to his soul at the images of what he wanted to do to this innocent girl because of a few skin markings.

What had he become...

Was he any better, than those monsters... the true war criminals that had hurt his friends?

He listened to a few children do their best try not to be scared as they held onto their parents, grandparents, stuffed animals or those nearest to them.

The Half-Irath girl was now rocking a young human boy asleep who had become scared and wouldn't leave his sight.

With that he needed to get out and clear his head. Given the break in the fighting and make sure that the perimeter held.

Patrolling the perimeter of the museum that was now Fort Defiance he just felt off, like he was no longer human... no longer a person... just some machine assigned a task. That was when one of the civilians came up to him. After all of the Shtako and the loss of his family when Arkfall had occurred he saw that that this war would destroy more lives than it would save.

That was when he saw a civilian came out and was standing there in the middle of the night just letting the coldness of the night suck the rest of her life away as the cold sea air sucked into their soul. But she had seen some seriously bad stuff, but had kept her distance from the Iron Demons, but at this moment she came forward and wanted to talk. Giving the ringing in his hears, he probably couldn't understand a word she said. He wasn't in the mood to listen, and Nolan didn't want to talk.

But the civilian just sat down and just listened as the staffing fire moved off some from their location.

The Votan Ekaru Kome would be converging again in the next couple of hours. The Iron Demons had done their best to secure the rotunda of the building so that any stray fire would be deflected from hitting the building. So far several Votan healers had done their best to tend to the sick. Between the Irathian apothecary who was running on a steady supply of coffee, the poor bastard was like everyone here, just biding his time till the mess passed out of here and they could start moving these people out.

Over in the distance a mixture of strafing fire both Human and Votan started up again. Given the number of sick and wounded, they were in a position where it was hopeless. This was a position where one couldn't retreat from, this was hold the line or all was lost. The half dozen men that made up the Iron Demons knew that something had to give.

That was when the strafing fire started up again. The woman who had come to sit by Nolan saw something moving. Then he saw it. It was a woman sprinting for her life that was when a shot rang out. That shot that would lead the Iron Demons to take up a new path in their lives that would affect them in the years to come.

* * *

Amanda looked back at Nolan and realized that the Battle of Defiance as the stories stated was bad. But hearing this first had she knew why he had called it "It was, what it was."

"I had no Idea."

"Well when that shot rang out. Renee, the woman that had come out to talk with me pointed out that there was a woman sprinting for her life." Nolan looked at the little fort he had made on his desk. "It is not every day that you have to chase after a woman who just realized that there was a crying baby stuck out there in No Man's Land. The next thing we know, me and a few others were sprinting across No Man's Land after Renee , the woman who had come out to talk with me, got it into her head to save this woman." there was a long pause from Nolan like the weight of the situation was more intense than Amanda had really understood. "What happened next well..." Nolan sighed. "Wasn't what any of us expected."

* * *

Nolan and Jon sprinted after this woman. They were covering all of the angles they could as they realized that there was a sniper out there. The last thing they wanted was to be a sitting duck.

That was when they found the woman... A Castithan... the Shot had gone right through her and John had picked up the baby. Other than a few scratches, the child was alright, but the woman with the hole through her white robes had died from the shot. That was when Nolan heard some rubble falling down and the three of them turned to see the largest Sensoth they had ever seen with what looked to be a modified rocket propelled grenade launcher in his arms. Nolan and Jon leveled their weapons at him as they saw the giant Votan lower his weapon and look at the woman they were checking on and child in Jon's arms.

"shtako..." all the Votan said in a soft whisper as the weight of the situation slammed down upon his shoulders. After several moments he whistled and several other of his compatriots showed up. A male and a female Irathian and a Liberata male came to join them. The scene hit them all as they realized that the two solders Nolan and Jon were only coming to aid the woman, not to attack. That was when the Votan solders offered their aid and carrying the woman back to the fort. Nolan picking up the woman around her shoulder as the male Irathian joined in helping pick the woman up around the other shoulder. The Liberata and the female Irathian each grabbed a leg and did their best to make sure the Castithan woman was carried out of the hole. Jon carried the child and the large Sensoth helped bring up Renee as the four troops around the woman found a spot where they could quickly construct a stretcher out of some boards so that they could carry the woman back to the fort Jon had pointed out to the group of soldiers that had joined them.

That was the longest walk of those troops' lives.

Jon gave Renee the baby that the woman had been carrying and she did her best to calm the child down and keep the young one away from the horrific sight of what had happened to the child's mother.

Once inside of the rotunda of the museum the troops and realized that the woman had succumbed to her injuries as they set her down inside of the triage area where the sick and injured had been placed.

The blood across the woman's white robes made the scene all that more horrific as they all realized that it didn't matter whose side had fired the shot. It was the fact that as they looked around was that these people, Votan and Human were of need of their protection.

Fate had made sure that they were there to protect these people and they would give their lives to make sure it was so.

These Defiant Few...

Who couldn't leave.

Needed an act of Defiance to save them all.

Votan...

Human...

It didn't matter.

These few warriors of two warring armies had been chosen to make the stand.

To save all.

* * *

Amanda's jaw was on the floor.

She heard stories of the origins of the Defiant Few...

But this...

This was deeper than she thought.

The death of a mother... An innocent Child and building full of Sick.

Nolan was doing his best to fight back tears as she tried to compose herself as she looked out the window.

It was the civilians that had started it.

Nolan and the others just were along for the ride and had been chosen to protect those innocent in a time of need.

To Protect and Serve.

To save all.

Then outside two figures walked by the windows of the Lawkeeper office.

Alak Tarr and Christie McCawley, the children of the two rival houses of Defiance were walking hand in hand talking like young lovers do and the story that Nolan was telling her hit home as the perky happy music coming from Alak's hailer sunk in.

Protect the innocent yet to be born so they might enjoy happiness.

The super sweet song playing from long ago, that troops played as a party anthem now took on a different meaning for the two young lovers who started to dance.

It was Little Richard's _Good Golly Miss Molly_.

Amanda finally started to cry as the double edge of the song sunk in from two different movies she had seen as a kid.

One was a war movie and the other was a period romantic dance film.

* * *

Well, I hope that you liked this chapter. Let me know what you think.

Please Review.

Next: Conte of the Ekaru Kome, "Cress Blades" of the Defiant Few.


	4. Chapter 4

This chapter was written prior to _Goodbye Blue Sky_

And I had to surf a ton of Satellite Data and spend a few yours walking around on Google Earth/Maps to get the lay of the land of this place just so that I could place Conte and his pals in this environment with some detail.

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Chapter 4: Conte of the Ekaru Kome, "Cress Blades" of the Defiant Few

* * *

Irisa had spent the last half-hour tracking down Sukar after the mess he caused with Nariah. The image of Sukar being disconcerted about losing his head had put him in his place until she was able to calm Nariah down and at least make sure the young child wouldn't run off in fear after he called her Little Wolf. Irisa needed to learn why and how far this little title of Little Wolf had traveled among the Irathient community before it turned into something dangerous for her and Nolan.

After tracking down several members of the Spirit Riders, Irisa had been able to get a lead on their leader as he traded for information on the going rate on pieces Ark Salvage and the tech that went with it. Irisa was still bitter that it was her and Nolan's Ark find Sukar was selling, but in a way she had begun to understand the leader of the Spirit Riders of why he had done the claim jump. Mostly it was to put food on the table for children like Nariah so that they could have a future.

Between looking through the corners of the NeedWant, Irisa had found Sukar looking down at his drink while chewing over his words and actions from earlier that day. Sukar took Irisa's visions seriously and looked like someone had shot his dog and had it for dinner.

"Sukar... We need to talk." Irisa said in her native tongue.

The elder Irathient turned to look at Irisa.

"Little Wolf... I..." Sukar spoke realizing that he didn't know what to say given that may have messed up a vision that might cost him his very life. Irisa decided to take it from there.

"Sukar... I know that you want me to embrace my heritage." there was a long pause from Irisa. "But let me find my way there. I have questions, and you may not have all of the answers I seek." Irisa said that part in Human English. "Being called Little Wolf, is a bit disconcerting for me. But the younger children of our people think I am some sort of monster. Something to be feared. An image that might cause more harm than good for our people." Irisa said in native Irathain. "I am part of our people, yet I am an individual. My powers: My Gift, My Curse. They are part of me but not all who I am. I got a glimpse of Rynn's life before her parents were killed. She nearly used her gifts to destroy innocents... I have seen her find her path in the land where she now lives and she is happy. The pain is there, but she can start fresh. Use those gifts for good. I know her life got turned to shtako by some greedy humans. But during her youth, I saw the love her family had for her and how happy she was." Irisa got quiet. "My powers were nearly used when I was a child by others for evil. Those who tried to use them for that were punished for their actions, but the damage they did still remains and I struggle with it every day." Sukar moved towards her and caressed the side of her face. "I am overcoming the pain of my past. To gain some happiness in my life." Irisa started to blush. "I met a boy... he like me... has overcome some of the demons in his past and has given me hope in my own battle with my demons... and I have to discovery my roots to be an Irathient so that I can find my own happiness. That girl you scared is one of the individuals that will help me reclaim my heritage as she goes and shapes our future." Irisa stopped. Sukar nodded at her.

"Little Wolf is making her way through the currents of her own trials." Irisa knew what the reference meant given all of the forest and river references her people used in her culture.

"Listen I am sorry about the threats I made earlier." Sukar took his prayer beads and offered them to her and Irisa smelled the wood that had come from her people's homeworld and felt them across her cheek.

"You were doing what you thought was best to ensure the little one could navigate her path through the stream of her life." Sukar said understanding. "Little Wolf... If you wish, I can introduce you some of the Irathient farmers that live in the area. If the Spirit Riders are not to your liking?" Irisa nodded.

"You were close to Ket and Julluh Grisu when they were alive; they were decent people who sought to live in harmony with the land." Sukar grinned.

"Yes and came here on the same Ark. Julluh loved science and Bugs, but for me, I loved running free on this new world." With that Sukar finished his drink and paid his tab at the bar and motioned for Irisa to follow him.

"A little too free, you need to bathe a little more for my taste." Irisa said as the wind shifted and she got a blast of Sukar's body order.

"Is that one of the reasons that you won't ride with us, or is it something more?" Irisa's silence spoke volumes as her eyes began to water from the scent of the larger Irath's body worked its way through her nasal passages.

* * *

Irisa walked with Sukar for a little while through the streets of Defiance. That was when they met up with a woman and a child who Sukar seemed interested in introducing Irisa to.

"Ah... Aren... It is good to see you." the Irathient woman reached out and caressed the side of his face.

"Same to you Sukar..." the woman grinned." So... still getting into trouble as much you did when we were children?"

"Yes... But the type of trouble that can get us ahead." Sukar said speaking to this woman who reached over and grabbed her child by the shirt and shot him a look that stated that she was putting her foot down one some of his mischievous behaviors.

"Yes, and it hard to believe that both of our mothers were sisters." Aren said as she saw Irisa.

"So who is this? Not some young one that you are trying to convince to be another Spirit Rider?"

"Irisa!" Irisa looked over to see Nariah running to her at full speed. Now the only thing that prevented this young girl from exceeding the speed of light was the laws of physics around a planetary mass and her how little legs. "Wow... Soareyouonpatrolrightnow? DidSukardosomethingbad? Didmybrothergetintoandstartcausingtrouble... Again?" Irisa wondered how that girl was able to compress so many words a series of short breaths... and in Irathient it was quite a feat without shredding one's tongue.

"Yes, No, No..." Irisa said. As Aren looked down at Nariah who looked up to Irisa and back down to her child. Conte's daughter.

"Nariah, how do you know Irisa here?" Aren said looking down at her little one.

"She saved my life after I got cornered by some Castithans who wanted to cut me with a knife." Aren looked up her husband.

"Where were you during this time?" The woman earned Irisa's respect just with how she spoke. But to Conte, Irisa felt that in a way given how her life was going she might take some pointers in dealing with Nolan.

"Trying to track her down after she ran off to give some child their ball back." Conte said as Irisa looked at at the mother to state the situation where she and Nariah had met.

"She had a run in with some children who wanted to vent their anger on her because she was smaller than them and because of my dealing with an incident that took place in the Hollows." Irisa said looking towards the girl.

"What was the incident that got my daughter pulled into that might have gotten her hurt?" Aren said with concern.

"It was me breaking up a Castithan purification ritual by cutting down a man that was being pulled apart on a rack. He was only guilty of wanting to live after the Volge attacked Defiance" Conte winced.

"Flashbacks of what happened to you in Denver." Conte said looking at Irisa who nodded. Sukar looked back and forth between Conte and Irisa wondering what had gone down between the two that was unspoken yet both understood by both. "That is one battle the Defiant Few rarely talk about it shaped how they live their lives." Conte said pausing for a second as he looked towards his own children. "And I am one of them."

"The battle the Defiant Few fought in Denver?" Sukar looked over at the statue in front of the Mayor's office then back to Conte.

"That was after I met Nolan... Irisa's adoptive father in the San Francisco bay area." Conte looked at Sukar. "You said: did I know a man name Nolan. I say yes, there were several that bore that name both personal and family during the war. The Nolan that is Irisa's father, that is his family name... and he is also a member of the Defiant Few." Sukar's jaw hit the ground.

"You are... You were chosen by Irzu to..." Irisa knew of Sukar's religious beliefs and to some Irathients the Defiant Few were seen as those warriors that had been chosen by Irzu himself to protect sacredness of life.

"Irzu put us there... It wasn't glory. It wasn't pride. We were chosen as guardians to protect those who would shape this world to be... In those days we learned of the worse we could be and the best that we could inspire to be." Conte reached over and touched the side of his daughter's and son's faces and started his tale. "That statue there is a Lie. But it also represents the truth of what forged us together and made us help guide those who would become the great leaders of this new world." This had Sukar and Irisa's attention.

* * *

Conte felt like Shtako. In the months since Arkfall, the planet had been so changed. It was as if the planet was screaming in pain from being so wounded both in the soul of the land and of its native people.

The humans had done so much to harm their planet, but they were trying to learn.

But... This...

Conte looked at the Votan and Terran landscape before him and felt sick.

Five Thousand years ago after the Irath clan wars, had his people seen the damage that a single explosion on one of those Ark ships that would bring their people here would do to this world... would they have fought those battles to prove what clans were the strongest to survive? Those same wars that wiped out large portions of their own people, taking many of the greatest thinkers of their time with them.

Conte felt sick thinking about that.

The Indogene choose the brightest thinkers among them.

The Castithans choose the privileged.

The Liberata and the Sensoth well at least they went with the luck of the draw as the humans said.

But seeing the cities, the towns the villages that had been destroyed by the Arkfall and the war.

Were the five key races of the Votans any better... fleeing one world to another and in the process destroying it.

They were just as bad as the humans with their cities and heavy industry.

There were few human sects that cared for the planet and it hurt him seeing the damage done to this once beautiful world.

Part of this city looked like it had been blasted right off Casti, but the forests nearby up in the north near what had been Oregon and Washington had mostly avoided the teraform blast. There were stories that several Irathient tribes and clans that had started to homestead near the old Mississippi river.

Mississippi - a word forged by natives of one land and bastardized by another for the name meaning "Great River". Conte grinned at the joke. What would the river be called the Irathients? Some further bastardized name saying Messipi, or Great River. Conte looked down and saw a child's doll on the ground in the heavy urban area they were running recon on. From the marking on it someone had done their best to reshape a human doll with red hair into something that looked to be Irathan. Conte leaned down and picked up the doll and held it in his hand. Most of the doll's white cloth had been colored Red only leaving the crescent shape mark and the nose bridge dot uncolored.

That was when he thought back to his youth when the Votan Arks got their first visual contact with humans. One of the Arks had a mixed crew of Indogenes, Irathients, Sensoths, Liberatas and a few Castithans who got dumped on board because of politics. The real reason the Castithans that got dumped on board one of the ships from Irath was to make sure that "the savages had something to tear apart." In truth, most of them were low level politicians that were too old, or had just enough secrets that scored them a seat for passage for their families when they lived on Irath.

Honestly, the twenty or so that were on the ship had fought beside some of the clans and were considered clanmates. Conte didn't mind the lower Iro Castithans. They at least knew what work was and had the cuts and injuries to prove it. That was only when they accepted that the level of one's Iro meant nothing, but it was the strength that one gained through proving oneself to their "true" friends that would bring them honor and respect among their "peers".

It was individuals who were above the politics that helped make the first inroads tolerable. But the one's tied to the old ways... that caused many of the problems that created this war.

But during those first days of contact, when the ships had entered above the cities of Earth. Some of the Votans wondered why the ships hadn't landed. Almost a week later and some hovering transports appeared by one of the ship's windows to look in. Well the Arks had obeyed their commands to protect Votan life. Just that no one knew that the planet they had head to was already inhabited. All it took was for some young Irathain girl whose ball bounced down one of the hallways while playing with several of the children on board to catch the attention of those outside as she raced by one of the windows to retrieve her ball.

It was weird as the young child waved at the crew on board their small craft when she looked out of the window to wave "Hi." A moment later as her friends came over to see why she hadn't returned to their game is what caught her attention. It was from those children who had gathered around seeing the craft hovering outside that forced them to get an adult's attention.

The Indogene maintenance officer who was tending to some relay that had shorted out had been practically dragged from his post by those children and when the shock of seeing the craft outside forced him to nearly defecate himself realizing that the indigenous locals were outside of the ship.

After that and several craft rotating refueling trips and a crude markup board on both sides. Someone had figured out how to get someone on board one of the Votan ships in a pressure suit.

Conte was just in his teens at the time, but remembered seeing some of the personnel come on board. At first the suits were designed for maximum containment, but later on the suits started to go away. Ranging from full atmosphere containment at first when the humans came onto the ships fearing that any transmission of any infectious agent might wipe out the species on the ships or on the planet below. Then the humans then started to use heavy bio-hazard suits then afterwards to the medium bio-hazard attire when they started to get a study of the microbes onboard of the vessels and realized that other than a case of the sniffles in some cases the beings onboard were not a threat. After that the humans started to use simple contaminate the masks to prevent any bugs from being transmitted to the individuals onboard the ships until the "eggheads" gave the thumbs up that it was safe, then just the people as they realized that the environment wasn't toxic to them the masks finally went away.

It took awhile for the languages and the broadcasts to be deciphered, but images of that little girl and her friends had been burned into the images of this species collective consciousness as being the people that established contact between these two civilizations.

Looking down at the doll, he still remembered the girl's name... Salemme. Salemme Lisette. She was one of the children who had been the first batch of Votan children to be enrolled in a human school around Southeast Texas. Mostly because of the forests around that area the last he heard from his friends was that she had fled around the river to one of the Irath settlements with her family when the war started.

That was when his clanmate Nali came up beside him.

"Conte what is it?" Nali's native Irathient tongue was tinted with some of the "Queens English" as the humans called it. Given the linguist that had cracked several of the Voton Languages had been from some island nation called England.

"Nothing, just this..." Conte held up the doll to her.

"Oh..." Nali said touching the doll.

"Looks like we are nearing a settlement of Votans that we heard intel on."

"Yes, and given that this doll looks to have been recently dropped within the last day or so given that it is fairly dry and that we had rain earlier in the week." That was when Torc their resident Senoth came walking over. The seasoned warrior knew when to be cautious and started to sniff their air.

"Wind is shifting..." Torc said as Nali and Conte closed their eyes and started to sniff the air. Now the Cryogenic fluid that the Indogenes had used left several side effects to the various Votan races. For the Irathients it had affected the mucus lining of their nasal passages and their taste buds. So the faintest of smells was overwhelming to some degree to some Irathients. So the body odor of some races stuck out very harshly. And even if you hadn't bathed for a few days as some of the refugees had, well you could find them. But it was the smell of a Castithan female and her baby's dirty diaper that caught their attention.

"Castithan Female with child..." Conte said focusing on the scent. "One of the middle Iro... I think a house servant." Nali focused on the smell.

"Bath House servant... I smell the hair oils on her skin." Nali said opening her eyes.

Blythe their resident Liberata came down the path with his weapon. "Well I have been listening and Looks like the Servant girl sprinted this way couple of minutes ago, I'm still hearing foot echoes. Wait there is shouting... Votan, Human..." One thing you could say about the Liberata was that though they were small, they had excellent hearing for their species.

"Okay. Blythe take point in one of the buildings. See if you can trace the echoes of those two." Torc said. "I'll take point." Torc said hefting his large rifle with the rocket propelled grenade on the front of it. "Keep your eyes peeled, the Iron Demons are in the area." Torc said as he hefted his large weapon before him.

That was when a shot rang out. Blythe stopped in his tracks as he shifted his head around waiting for the secondary pop to take place counting out the delay to figure out the direction of the shot as well as the position of the sniper.

"Torc... We smell blood." Nali said leveling her weapon. "Castithan Blood."

"Shtako..." Torc said as he started to point out commands. "Blythe can you hear where the mother and child went?" Blythe closed his eyes and focused his hearing to search for the mother.

"I hear the child crying." Blythe said turning his head and sorting through the echoes of the landscape. "Give me a second..." The entire curved paths and roads in this area made for spots ripe for ambush and the trees in the area also muffled the sound. Then Blythe got a lock on the position. "She is off to the east... I can still hear the child crying."

"Okay..." Torc pulled out his map of the area that showed some of the landscape. Given that it was pre-Arkfall didn't matter. The surviving buildings and roads that were around were the main concern. "Looks like we are approaching some Place structure mentioned here on the map. Looks like that was probably where she was running to. Everyone keep your senses alert and don't shoot until you have to." With that the Irath based members headed out following the trail through the flooded, smashed, and destroyed remains of the once great Bay Area.

* * *

"I don't remember I have ever huffed that fast over that much of a distance in my life." Conte said looking around at his family and at Sukar and Irisa. "What we found had us all stop cold in our tracks."

* * *

Conte was covering the positions making sure that they didn't fall victim to any snipers in the area. If a member of the Damn Dark Matter unit had showed up, then they might have a huge mess on their hands. The members of the Dark Matter were indiscriminate as the Damn Volge. It was not their right to claim what wasn't their's. There had to be balance." That was when Nali sprinted up next to him. The Combat cut hairstyle she wore bobbed as she ran making her look like a savage lioness. That was when the scent of blood became overwhelming with the scent of stomach bile. Coming to a stop Torc motioned for them to circle the location and move in when ready. After a long moment, Torc whistled for them to approach with the clear sign. What they saw was two human soldiers and a human civilian female standing over a fallen Casti woman who had been shot. The female human looked to be more worried scared of the fact that they would hurt her. But the two soldiers looked to be more concerned about tending to the woman's injuries. With that Torc motioned for Conte, Nali, and Blythe to help one of the soldiers tend to the injured woman while Torc helped the human woman up to her feet and another human soldier took up carrying the baby.

Realizing that they needed to get this woman medical attention they headed with the human soldiers back to the large structure that the humans had come from after using Torc's large weapon and a piece of wood and the human soldier's poncho to construct a stretcher

For Conte walking next to this human was strange but it wasn't until they got close to the large palace structure that had been shown on the map they had of the area. As they approached, the people inside pulled back the boards that had been used to provide cover and protection from the outside and they were let in.

Inside they all saw the various individuals both Human and Votan in the structure. As a makeshift table was made from a cleared raised section of the floor so that they could set down the woman down. The mass amount of blood from her stomach wound shown through her traditional white Castithan robes spoke volumes.

Conte saw that the woman had passed during their journey here to this place of safety.

The soft cry of the child who had been handed to the human female was doing her best to calm the child down, but in a way somehow in Irzu's good name the child had latched onto this woman and started to feel calm.

So much loss to save one innocent life.

Conte looked around to see several children hiding but one a human girl who had a scared half out his wits Castithan boy latched onto her spoke volumes as she walked with him around the soldiers to an Irathient elder who ushered them away from this sight.

"How many are here?" Torc said seeing the faces that would haunt them to their last days.

One of the soldiers that had helped Conte bring the woman in said. "A Lot... Most we can't move because of injury, illness, or because one of their family members is the above."

"Shtako..." Conte took a few steps and fell to his knees.

That was when a girl threw something at him as an explosion took place outside. And she threw another handful of whatever was on the ground at one of the human soldiers.

"Why doesn't this war stop!" Conte looked up to see a child...a Irathain... No half-Irathient girl with pain in her eyes. "Isn't it enough you took my parents from me you Assholes..." With that she ran off.

Conte felt sick to his stomach.

* * *

Conte was crying at this time.

"It took a while to compose myself but... seeing the look in that girl's eyes still haunts me to this day. We all, the soldiers there took a silent unspoken oath to protect these people."

"It wasn't until Blythe found a symbol of the floor plan to the building that we took it as a sign that a greater power was guiding us." With that Conte knelt to the ground and traced the curved structure of the building followed by a small circle inside of the arch.

"Irzu's Shadow... that is..."

"Yes the base form of the stripe markings that every child of Irathient blood has on their skin. The scary thing is that the building was constructed nearly a century before the Votans even arrived on this planet. Makes you think about whose hand was involved in bringing the eight races together in that one place."

* * *

Next: The battle begins

* * *

Note: Do a Google Search for an satellite image of the Place of Fine Arts in San Francisco and rotate it till West is facing the top of the screen and you get to see what Conte saw.

I apologize for the major piles of Shtako in folks pants and the major freak outs that will take place after you see this.

Hearns

Please review below.


	5. Chapter 5

This chapter has some pretty dark scenes in it. So keep some tissue handy and a decent liner to your garbage can.

The Portuguese section is translated at the end of the story.

* * *

The Battle Begins

No Man Nolan finds his soul

* * *

Amanda had spent the last several minutes composing herself after hearing of Nolan's past.

"So... Conte... he was one of the Votan soldiers that helped you bring that woman into Fort Defiance." Amanda said wiping tears from her eyes.

"He was... For him, after that half-Irathient girl started to throw stuff at us when she saw the dead body that woman. It hit hard for us." Nolan paused to process things and look back at the events of his past. "When a child screams at you the words: 'Why doesn't this war stop?' Or why did you Assholes kill my parents.' you start to gain some perspective on the pain and suffering that war brings into people's lives. For the most part seeing these Votan soldiers with us, I think we all took a moment to pray for the woman's soul to show her some respect. That is when Conte... I didn't know his name at the time, but when I saw him on his knees before the floor plan of the building that I saw what he was looking at." Nolan started to sketch out the building some with a pencil that was on his desk on an old report he had completed on the weekly crime activity. "Amanda... what do you see?" Nolan said handing over the sketched image to the Interim-Mayor of Defiance.

Amanda looked down at the image on the paper and saw a familiar symbol that she had seen on every Irathian she had ever seen. "The arch and dot pattern that every Irathian I have ever seen have." Nolan grinned.

"Well that too, but this was the floor plan for the Palace of Fine Arts, a.k.a. Fort Defiance." Amanda looked at the image again.

"You mean..." Nolan nodded his head.

"Yes Amanda. See the curved building is where most of the refugees had fled into, but the large dot... was the Rotunda outside of the building. The entire building looked like some ancient Greek Temple to the Gods." Nolan started to sketch some columns that were around the building at the time. "Inside, the place was a museum, or had been prior to the war." Nolan said as he started to draw some of the internal structure from his own memory.

* * *

Nolan watched as a Castithan woman walked over and offered up a can of Vienna Sausages to a family of humans. Given her appearance she looked to be one of the scroungers that had been keeping these people alive. Most of the woman's clothing looked to be made up of human garments but with the grays, blacks and whites that many Castithans favored in their dress, she looked that other that some light makeup, she could pass for fairly human.

"Hey..." Nolan said looking over at the woman as she slowly started to look through the satchels she had around her as she moved onto another family. "Do you need some help?" Nolan said lending a hand as Eddie was helping with the burial and the Sensoth was doing his best to help out the Vet that had been drafted into being the field medic.

The woman stopped cold as she started to look up at Nolan. "Yeah..." the woman said tired. "There is another bag down the hall." She pointed to the backpack behind Nolan. "I hit a few of the remaining standing houses in the area." Nolan walked over to see several cans of food and pulled out a large can that said: St. Hubert Poutine. From the picture on the front, it looked to be potatoes, gravy and some sort of white stuff. Going down deeper into the bag Nolan found a Can of Chicken Noodle Soup, some strange Chinese written container, and something written in Castithan. It looked to be some sort of stew.

"Hey... What's this stuff?" Nolan said holding up a can. The woman came over and looked at it.

"Bulgur ashkan... A Traditional Castiathan stew." The woman shrugged. "There are few brands I like, but mostly I miss the traditional ingredients. But what you have in your hand happens to be one of the better ones that some human cook helped make. The substitution of Pork and some Earth based grains, it tastes good. Sort of like your Chili but without the beans though it is great with corn."

"Castithan Chili..." Nolan shrugged.

"Yeah... Most of the Iriathian dishes taste like your Thai food, go figure." The woman said as she reached over and took out some of the other cans and transferred them to the pack she was carrying around.

"So, how have you been doing this?" Nolan said as the woman started walking over to another group of people. A group of Irathians.

"A while. Hey, could you hand me some of the Asian stuff." Nolan reached in and pulled out a can that said Kimchi in English and blocked Asian writing and handed it to them along with a can of jalapeno spray cheese.

"That is a weird combination." Nolan said looking as the Irithains slowly said a prayer before opening the can and taking the leaves out of the can.

"Tenon... Spiced leaves with cheese." The woman said as she looked through the bag as she moved on. "Irathain comfort food. I ate some of the stuff after I wound up on the streets after moving to Seattle."

The Clothing now started to make sense.

"Wait, you were part of those Votan Youths that latched onto our culture. Went native..." There was a soft grin on the woman's face. Nolan had heard about these kids. Votans that went native and joined human culture, Had human friends, lovers... a few hybrid children. As the Votanus collective talked about creating a homeland, these people were the opposite. They gave a damn about humanity.

"Yeah... Pissed my parents off in Brazil. Rebelled like hell. Fornicated with a few humans. Wound up on the streets. Broke more laws that I would like to say. All to escape an arranged marriage." There was a long sigh from her as she stopped. "Mostly I think I didn't want to be part of the old ways. Too much baggage and traditions that should have died out long ago." The woman said as she headed over to a group of humans and she motioned for Nolan to come up. "Hey, do you have anything that is chicken based in there?" The Castithan woman said searching her own bag. Nolan looked into his bag and felt around to find two old school MRE Chicken Enchilada meal packs.

"Here." Nolan said handing them to the woman.

"Bless you Lina. The Gods of our worlds are glad you exist. So many would have perished if it wasn't for you and the others." The one of the humans said as he took the food from her and opened a packet to give some to the children in the group. Nolan watched as the humans started to eat their meager meal. That was when the Irathian female soldier that had come with him from the rescue operation and looked down at one of the group.

"Your leg... How long has it been hurt?" The Iraithan said in broken English and a show of true concern. Nolan watched as the Votan soldier started to check the injury and Nolan realized that there was more than one. A conventional bullet graze that had been crudely treated, but the cold fire injury was semi cauterized.

"A while, about a week or so. We have done our best to treat it" the man said as the Iraithian started to search her pouches on her uniform for supplies to treat the injury.

"The wound is about to fester. I need to clean it." The Irathian said sorting through her supplies. Nolan knelt down and started to sort through his own supplies and fished out an antibiotic pack and handed it to the Irath long with some medical grade hand sanitizer. The woman looked at Nolan and nodded in agreement. "Eseneziri." Nolan had heard the word several times in his youth when it came to several of the Irathains he had run into, but he knew it was a term of trust. This was when the Castithan woman handed a strange handle thing to the Irath and spoke something in Castithan. Nolan watched as the Irathian soldier took the knife and flicked it on to reveal a Votan Charge blade. After a moment of fiddling with the settings, the long blade reduced in length and the Irathian started to carve out the festered flesh then with one of her medical packs she started to tap in a mixture of pain killers followed by some of the Ectracellular matrix powder Nolan had put into the supply pile. Nolan looked at the work done and was impressed. But it was the fact that the Irath started pray as she finished and bandaged the wound. That was when she wrote something on the bandage.

Nolan could only pick out a few words and caught a few references to some Portuguese she spoke before she broke into some shaky English.

"Your wound should heal now."

"You're from the central Votanas Collective?" Nolan said as the Iraithan nodded.

"Nova Irath... Criado lá logo após o estabelecimento da colônia. A maioria é de vida difícil, mas há pessoas boas lá, dado que ela é composta do que vocês chamariam de favelas." Nolan saw that look several times in his life. He had witnessed it, being homesick... There had been reports that the Votanis collective in South America had also been hit by the events of nearly a year ago. Had she lost family as he did when Ark Fall took place?

"Nolan of St. Louis." Nolan said offering his hand to the Irathian soldier who gathered up the corrupted materials and dead flesh and put them in a Votan haz bag.

"Nali...Nali, das grandes florestas perto do rio grande." this was when Lina the Castithan announced herself.

"Lina... Formerly of Votanas Collective, formerly of Seattle." Nali seemed a little shook up as the bag did its work destroying the medical waste then Nolan smelled it as Nali got up and sprinted away from the group of them and promptly vomited. It took a moment for Nolan to recognize the smell that had set her off. . . Cow roasters. A crude Earth Tech Weapon, but it had proved effective against certain types of Votans given that it was a supped up microwave weapon that fired a beam that super-heated the water in one's body. Nolan had seen the remains of the weapons use and nearly gagged himself after it had been used longer than usual on a group of soldiers during the siege of Oklahoma City.

Lina and him headed over and knelt down to the scared Votan and held her.

* * *

"I don't know what was worse, seeing a scary Irathian scared witless from resembling seeing the deployment of a Cow Roaster, or the fact that I later learned was it had been used on Civilians." Nolan said leaning back.

Amanda had worked hard to process the scene Nolan had described.

"Lina did her best to calm Nali down." Nolan sighed. "She wasn't the only one who had seen things that they wouldn't forget from that war. There is an old saying: When good men go to war, demons run. Well we all did things that would scare the Hell out if most demons and even I had to do a few to survive. We all had to do unspeakable things to survive but for some of us. Nali had to adopt a code of survival that sort of made her decision to say 'screw you' to the war make some serious sense." Nolan grinned. "Though learning Portuguese and Irathient in the same day was a head trip to say the least."

* * *

Nolan knelt next to the young Irathian and stroked the side of her face as she started to regress into a past memory.

"ezmeyuwe." The young woman said as she looked up to Nolan. That was when her age hit him. She looked to be no younger than him. She probably had been drafted like he had been. The Irathient soldier spun around scared and slid away from him as she pulled out an knife. The way she was shaking screamed that she had a flashback to something. A line of Irathients came out of her before Lina knelt down and started to speak some Portuguese. Not Castithan. After a moment Lina watched as the Irath returned her blade to her sheath. "You're about my age..." The young woman creaked out in broken English.

"What do you mean, your age? You could be a few thousand years older than me." Nolan said half joking.

"No... I was eleven winters old when I saw this world." Nolan stopped cold.

"I was twelve when... the Arks appeared above this world." Nolan said realizing that he wasn't the only one who had seen their world change on that day.

* * *

"It is not every day that you learn that there are other civilizations than yourself out there, but for Nali as she talked; I started to understand how some of the Votans felt when they arrived here. That they were sold a bill of goods and were screwed over when they got here." Nolan looked out the window to see Irisa with Sukar and Conte's family just talking. "They weren't angry at there being people here, just that they were not expecting to be so many of us here."

Amanda stood up and walked over to Nolan and looked out of the window. "That is surprising to hear from someone on the frontlines."

Nolan grinned at this. "Well if it wasn't for Conte and Nali, when I ran into Irisa later on, I wouldn't have been able to get through to her." Nolan watched as his little girl was growing up before his eyes. Part of him still wanted her to still be that feline acting kid that got in trouble with the other children and would hiss her disapproval. Another part of him wanted to see her happy, and probably with a family of her own with little ones raising Hell in their wake. Though the idea of her having Sukar's child was a bit disconcerting. But in the names of the Gods and Goddesses of the Eight Races he would do his best to make sure she was happy. This was when Amanda reached up and took Nolan's hand and she looked up to see what Nolan was looking at.

"Tell me more about your experience with Nali and the other Defiant Few." Amanda said realizing that this was the stuff that the history books didn't talk about unless you took a college degree in the stuff.

"Well, Nali started to tell me stuff about her experiences in battle. Mostly like me, she had seen too much stuff and the smell of sterilized burnt flesh brought back too many memories."

* * *

Nali had spent the past hour just talking, mostly about being stuck on the Ark she was on for close to two years. Nolan started to understand these people more from their point of view. Nail had spent her twelfth and thirteenth birthdays on the Arkship and every day aching to feel soil under her feet and the wind on her face. Given of her experience, she would spend hours looking out of the Ark's windows down at the city below and especially the beaches of Rio de Janeiro and just wanting to run free on the sand, splash in the water of the beaches. She was a creature of nature, and needed to feel a connection to the land, something that tore at her soul. Nolan watched as Nali reached down and took up a handful of dirt that had been washed into the structure for the Arkfall and let it run through her fingers. She didn't want to fight in this war, but it would be over her dead body she wasn't going to be stuffed back onto one of those ships. She was too much like the innocents that he had hurt during the Yosemite Mess.

"I had to kill a boy... I don't know how many winters old. He had been hit by one of your weapons. I didn't know he was Votan or Human. Just that he was in pain. I was with him when he passed. I sent him to Irzu with a Sinking Ritual." Nolan leaned over against her as a shell went off outside and rubbed her on the arm. "No one should die like that." Nolan leaned over and spoke up too.

"I had to shoot some Liberata Kid in Arizona. He just pulled out a AR-15 and I put him down. Didn't know it was some paintball gun. Stupid kid was just defending his home." Nolan leaned back his head and looked up at the art on the ceiling on the structure. "War sucks."

"War... what is it good for? Absolutely Nothing!" Nali sung out softly as Nolan grinned.

"Ohhh? War! I despise Because it means destruction? Of innocent lives. War means tears to thousands of mothers eyes. When their sons go to fight and lose their lives." Nolan finished the lyric of the song.

"Too much Earth Music when I was younger. That and chasing after really attractive Human boys with firm nádegas." Nolan didn't know what that word meant thinking it was some Irathient slang for a body part. Nolan pointed to his croch, thinking she mean a dude's manhood. That was when Nali slapped him on the ass and pointed it out to him. Nolan winced then he started to laugh some as Nali digressed into some Irathient as she started to name body parts with Nolan sounding them out. that was when Eddie came over with Nali's male Irathient friend.

"Nolan... Listen Conte here." Eddie motioned over to the Irath at his side. "Says that Nali here has knowledge about medical plants and given that we might have wounded fleeing here as the battle heats up… we need supplies." Nolan heard the words if his friend as Jon came up with them.

"Nolan... I'll go and watch your back." Jon said as Nali started to stand up.

"I'll go too; I think I know where some of the native Votan plants are." Lina said as she pulled out a map of the area. On it there had been several "X"s marked on it that looked to cover some of the remaining houses that had been left standing after the mass Arkfall event. Nolan was impressed with Lina's scavenging skills. Lina had literally hit a bulk of the houses in the area to get supplies for these people. Other than a few stores at the nearby shopping center, Lina had made short work of the surrounding area. Between the Castithan notes on the page, Nolan recognized several words.

Garden, soil, bunker, weapons, medicine.

"Hey, what is with this weapons reference on the page?" Nolan said looking at the glyphs on the page.

"Old gun store. It survived the Arkfall, mostly human weapons. I have been getting ammo for Amelio's guns from those placed." Lina said as she pulled a contractors pencil. "Nothing Vo-tek… but some of that stuff packs a punch." Nolan watched as Lina pulled out a .44 Desert Eagle.

Jon whistled impressed at her find of a powerful handgun.

"That is a violent piece of work." Jon commented as Lina placed the weapon into her pocket.

"Well Castithan weapons look more like museum pieces than actual weapons, but when human decide to make something, they make it practical and nasty." Lina said as she spread out the map on the ground.

* * *

"Lina knew how to scrounge." Nolan said as looked out at the statue. "That is why most of those people were alive." Nolan seemed almost nostalgic at this point I his memories but there were pain in those memories. "Now give that we had to go out to get some medical supplies, mostly medicinal plants. What we would find, I still have nightmares about. But if it wasn't for Renee and a few others, I would have eaten a bullet that evening. It was strange walking with Irathients and Castithans at my side, but given at that time didn't seem like the enemy. Between some of the things I have done in my past, doing this was beyond strange, though chopping down some bush to get the bark and sap to make morphine from; that was when we all heard a snap."

Nolan's hands were felling numb, even though the medical gloves and the salvaged work gloves from the home and garden store. Seeing the ginger haired Irathient before him who was carting this load back to Fort Defiance was grunting through the weight.

"So before the war, what did you do for a living?" Nolan said to the male Irathian. Looking back the Irathian sighed.

"Had an internship for one of the Earth based pharmaceutical firms working on new drugs to save lives, and make things better for all of our species."

"So a doctor?" Nolan said hefting the log along "so why aren't you with one of your medical units?"

"Less of a doctor, more of a lab tech. Mostly what I was working on before the war was using Irathient tribal and cultural knowledge to see why our immune systems were able to fight off diseases while others fell victim to them. Came up with a few drugs that your people use to kill of Staff infections."

"Wait a sec you were one of the brain trust that cooked up Omnicillin!?'" Nolan said stopping cold.

"Omnicillin, Tarplytol, and a few others. My last bit of research was using animal venom, both human and Votan in a diluted form to create heart drugs, clotting and anti-clotting agents to help others out."

"So why are you not with a medical unit?" Nolan said concerned.

"I head butted my supervisor who wanted to use my research in a weaponized form on civilians. It was called the Biodine project, if I remember right. Why do you think I got sent out here?" There was a sigh from the Votan officer. "There are some weapons that should never be used, ever on any population." Nolan started to understand this healer.

"Shit..." Nolan said as his fingers started to go numb.

"I got stuck out here as a field medic for these ranger guys as my punishment for assaulting a superior officer. Like Nali... Her folks were part of the Order of The Hands of Irzu. They treated the wounded during the Tribal wars back on Irath. This is probably the reason she knows more about this plant than I do." Nolan realized that somehow the Good Lord was listening. They had lost one, but not all. If there was a break, then maybe they could get the civilians moved to safety out of this warzone.

"Well let's get this log back to..." That was when the loud snap of a trap going off could be heard. That was when Lina and Nali came running back to them and Nali took out her blade and started to hack at the log that Nolan and the other Irathient had been carrying.

"What's happening?" Nolan was able to creak out as his senses went on alert. What happened next was what got his attention and had him and his partner to set down the log quickly. It was the distinct sound that Nolan had Nolan's stomach falling several notches as he knew why Nali and Lina had grabbed so much of the tree's bark.

It was a snap trap the Dark Matter set up to trap any unlucky civilian or military personnel that came across it.

That was when Nolan raced up the hill to see a child snared in the trap. The poor kid looked to be no more than seven to nine years old.

That was when the trap snapped again and a scream could be heard coming out.

* * *

"Snap Traps were one of the sick weapons that the members of the Ekaru Kome unit called the Dark Matter rigged up to hurt and kill humans." Nolan said feeling sick to his stomach as he leaned against the wall to take a few breaths. Even now that memory felt sickening to him. "Snap Traps were these nano-fiber whips that would first ensnare you then slowly, start to tighten around you snapping bones in the process. The Dark Matter loved to take young women, usually nude and throw them into a shallow pit of these devices scattered around and force them to run through a maze of these things to their freedom. The sounds of bones breaking and seeing their bodies' slowly wrapped, and crushed to death was sickening, the only way we found out about these was when found a video of one of these incidents that a pieces to Shtako had on him outside of Oklahoma City. Many of the Dark Matter took wagers on how long the 'Poor Human' would live before they died from shock, suffocation, Blood loss, or a broken neck. But to see one of these weapons go off on an innocent child... Shtako..."

Nolan closed his eyes trying to force himself to go through the images without emotion, but he could feel his heart tearing itself apart.

"Me and Conte raced down the hill and Jon was doing his best to keep the thing from deploying again with another whip." Nolan looked at the wall of the Lawkeeper's office. "Between all of us, we were barely able to stop the thing from deploying another whip. But the child was in so much pain, We started to realize why Nali and Lina had hacked off so much. The child was in so much pain that any energy to scream was drained into a whimper." Nolan looked outside.

"There are days that I cannot forget those eyes. The way that they looked at me, begging for a miracle so denied. Lina worked has hard she could with her chargeblade to cut off the connections. But, every time she did, another set of lines would snap into the child's flesh. That was when one snapped right into the child's chest. I wasn't a medic but I knew that major organs had been hit. Even if we did get the child free, they would be dead well before we could get them back to the fort. All we could do was ease the child's suffering."

Nolan deeply sighed.

"For the next little while we were able to put enough of that morphine plant to the child to ease their suffering. For what that child was able to say has stayed with me to this day. It is one of the main reasons that I adopted Irisa." Nolan closed his eyes and said the words with pain. "Save the next child in my memory, sir."

Amanda felt her heart drop down to her stomach.

"When we finally got back, I was pretty much running on automatic. Between the shelling that was hitting near our position and the fact things were looking bleak as we were running out of supplies. Even with the morphine tree we had brought back. it was going to get bleak to dark real quick. Even over the radio chatter that we were getting from both sides, we knew that it was only a matter of time before things went to hell in a hand basket for these folks." Nolan looked outside towards Conte, Irisa. "That was when our commander, Bullwin, or in some cases Bullheaded Bullwin gave orders for us to advance on enemy forces. It was a tense moment between us and the Cress Blades." Nolan shook his head. "Between running through the motions of loading my weapon, and trying to be a soldier, the events from earlier that day is what caused me to break down and I wept."

"That was when we came up with a crazy idea to buy us time to get these people out of that place to safety. But we didn't expect it to blow up in our face." Nolan said as he saw Tommy walking back to the office with a large Pizza box in his hands. That was when Tommy stopped by Conte and his family and motioned for them to come into the Lawkeeper's office. "Well looks like Conte and his family will be coming here in a sec." Nolan said cleaning off part of the desk so that Tommy could put down the food when he came in.

"It might sound interesting to hear how this plan of yours to get the civilians out played out. I mean I heard that there was an explosion that caused the building in the area to collapse." Amanda said as she helped Nolan place several of the documents on top of the nearby file cabinets.

"Well the explosion was supposed to be an EMP. It turned out to be something else." Nolan said as Conte and his family came through the door.

* * *

Next chapter: Mashed up stories, and how crazy to do you think this plan is going to work?

* * *

Translated text:

"Nova Irath... Criado lá logo após o estabelecimento da colônia. A maioria é de vida difícil, mas há pessoas boas lá, dado que ela é composta do que vocês chamariam de favelas."

English Translation:

"New Irath ... Created there soon after the establishment of the colony. Life is very difficult, but there are good people there, since it consists of what you would call slums."

* * *

Note:

I based most of Nali's home settlement on a composite of episodes based on "Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations" just to get that feel of South America/Exotic community.

To all of you who have Fav my story, and posted reviews, thank you. So of you like, please post a review below.

Hearns


	6. Chapter 6

To everyone who has favored and liked this story, I thank you.

So please review this chapter after reading. I know that there are over 460 who have read this so let me know what you think. Some of the ideas might wind up in the next chapter with a shout out to you all. Since the Defiance game has this get into the show thing I might even write in a fan or two of this story as a cameo to appear as a character in this if I like the idea enough.

Now on with the story.

* * *

Defiant As Hell Ch 6 - Crazy Plans, Desperate Means.

* * *

Irisa listened to Conte's story about the Battle if Defiance. It strange and yet she understood why Nolan was the way he was. There were things about Nolan in the past that didn't make sense to her as she was growing up, why he was so protective, why he was living everyday like it was his last, why he wouldn't let her have alcohol to drink. But now did. Why he gave up things that would get them ahead and would give them to others. Why making a difference was so important to him. This now started to change her view of some of the bitter things she thought of him in the past.

He was still and idiot at times, but some of those past experiences she chided him on for screwing things up for them were based on a code that had been forged under events that she didn't have the experience for, and he would ensure that she would never have to go through. Now listening to Conte who had been through the same Shtako she felt bad about yelling at Nolan for him doing things that now made sense.

Would she have been any different in his place?

But a suicide attempt... after witnessing the death of a child.

This battle seemed even worse that the Volge attacking Defiance. The battle had dragged in and hurt children who had been caught in the crossfire. Children probably younger than she was when Nolan had saved her from the cult that had tortured her.

Maybe that was the reason that he couldn't turn his back on a child in danger. Any child!

Sukar sensed how concerned she felt and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Little Wolf are you..." Irisa reached up and felt his hand and nodded.

"I... I did not now that Nolan had been through..."

"I too..." Sukar said starting to understand Irisa's adoptive father and why he was the way he was. Maybe raising her with a somewhat human background was his way of staying grounded. Staying connected to this world that was once his people's. As Conte told the story, Irisa felt like someone had punched her in the stomach. This was the reason that Nolan used the Terrasphere to save this town. He had been through it once before and something told her that given the stories of the Battle of Defiance only told half of the tale and she listened intently as Conte continued his knowledge of the events that had happened.

"Well, between knowing that both Votan and Human forces were going to clash right where we were at, we starting pondering ideas about what to do to get these innocents out of danger." Conte said looking over at the Lawkeeper's office and seeing Nolan. "Between both groups, we weighed our options, what we knew, what resources we had our disposal." There was a soft chuckle from Conte as he remembered the situation. "I don't know what God was looking out for us that day, but somehow we did the impossible to make a plan to get those people out." that was when Tommy walked over to the group with three large Pizza boxes in his hands.

"Hey, Irisa. Listen..." Tommy seemed tired, but understanding. "I got Pizza, and then I realized that Nolan knew Conte here and... Well..." Tommy showed the three pizza boxes, "I sort of ran with some traditional to some..." Tommy opened on of the Boxes up. "I have no idea what this is, but the guy said it was one of the more popular Votan orders?" Irisa leaned in sniffed.

"Bulgur ashkan chili cheese pizza." Irisa grinned. "When I was a kid, me and Nolan lived in Yuma with this human woman with a Castithan war orphan." Irisa sighed thinking back to the memory. "It was one of the few times, I felt normal in my life. Nor, the Castithan child who was about three at the time liked this type of pizza. But it was about the time Nolan introduced me to McIlhenny Tabasco sauce when I thought it wasn't spicy enough. Who knew a little bottle out of a combat rations kit would make a strange food feel familiar to a young girl who was getting her life normal." Irisa was starting to cry. "Sorry... I."

"No Little Wolf, it is a good memory to have." Sukar said making Irisa feel normal. Then there was a soft sigh from Irisa.

"Well, the good news is that I have a bottle of Huy Fong Sriracha chili sauce back in the office." That was when Conte closed his eyes and grinned.

"Ah... Huy Fong Sriracha. The sauce that Irathians use more of than the people that created it." Sukar ginned at this. This is when Tommy interceded.

"Listen, why don't you all come into the Lawkeeper's office and we can finish this story." Irisa nodded as she looked over at Nolan standing in the window. There was something wrong. Maybe seeing Conte had dug up some bad memories as well. That was when she moved and helped Tommy with the pizzas and they headed into the office to eat along with Conte's family and Sukar.

* * *

Nolan watched as what few seats that were around were being used as Amanda and the rest of the group took up seats in chairs, on tables, and even on the bunk in the prison cell. But it was seeing Nolan and Conte catch up some that made the meal go faster. Conte's son Nolan seemed less of a pain in the ass when he looked up at his mother and realized that if the got in trouble she would probably lock him in the prison cell and leave him there until he grew up some. But it was seeing Irisa and Tommy sitting together that had him thinking that there was something up between the two of them.

That was when Amanda wondered what other history these two had between the two of them that had made them members of the Defiant Few.

"So... Conte... Nolan told me that the two of them and several members of the Defiant Few set off an EMP. But things didn't go as planned." Conte looked at Amanda then towards Nolan, the Lawkeeper.

"Well, set off was the plan. But when we thought up the plan, we didn't expect it to blow up prematurely." This was when Nolan took over.

"Yeah, well combining Votan Tech with Human Tech without an Indogene proved to be the thing that caused us the most trouble... but the results in a way changed the world."

* * *

Nolan felt a bit better after Renee had soothed his nerves. Somehow with that gentle motherly voice of her's that she had pulled him back from the brink. Somehow she and that orphaned Castithan baby had been meant for each other and through this now insane world, it was the sanest choice. A mother who had lost her child and a child who had lost her mother would find each other in the middle of this Hell, and find some peace in each other's arms.

Now he had a mission. To make sure that little girl grew up in the arms of her foster mother. A Castithan that was raised human. The Castithan Gods would have been mortified. But whatever force was out there guiding them to this point, a decision had to be made. With that soldiers of both sides of this now insane war over land that was forever changed and made alien to all had to make a decision to save all or none would survive to see the birth of a new world.

"Listen, we need a way to buy time for these people to escape, or at least find a way to stall the fighting long enough to push both sides back to perform an evacuation." Amelio Rodriguez, the civilian leader of the Defiant Few said as he sat around the campfire. Nolan had gotten to know a few of the names of the Votan soldiers that had come into play but one of them was Conte, who seemed to be going through a list in Irathent that he had been scratching into the ground. Nolan knew enough of the language to realize it was a list with numbers.

"So, far we have enough ammunition just barely hold off a unit of six men from our own equipment and most of our cold fire weapons have about half to a third of a charge on them." Conte looked up to Jon who was doing his own inventory as well..

"We have a few grenades, a couple packs of Eddie's blasting powder, and about five to six clips of ammo between our own weapons." Nolan looked down at his own weapon and the eight bullets he had been able to load into before his breakdown.

"I have eight rounds here." Nolan said offering up his own weapon.

"Between Lina's own fire arms, she has about sixteen rounds on her." Amelio said as he pulled out his own long range rifle. "And I have about sixteen shots with my own rifle."

"That isn't enough firepower to get everyone out of here." Conte said doing the math.

That was when Blythe the Liberata spoke up. "Then we have to be smart."

The furry Votan now had everyone's attention.

"We have two armies that need to communicate and move. Now what if we took away that capability for just a little while?"

"Well, I will walk outside with a huge stop sign and hope for the best for both armies to stop fighting." Eddie said in his traditional sarcastic tone.

"Wait... this place was hit with one of those Terraforming warheads; they knocked out a lot of communications and power sources when they came down." Amelio's daughter said looking at both groups of soldiers. "What if one of those things was a dud, and we were able to turn it on... Minus the transformation stuff, would it be able to short out the weapons?"

"It might... only if we were able to get it high enough up into the atmosphere, it would short out the radios, ignition systems for the vehicles, temporary fry some targeting systems, and stall out all cold fire weapons in a radius of a hundred kilometers." Blythe said. "Too low and we get the blast pattern equivalent of Hiroshima."

"That is if we had one of those Votan devices?" Conte said in defeat. Nolan chewed his lip before he spoke up.

"What if we did... or at least one that still had some charge to it." That was when the soldiers both human and Votan started to look at him with concern. Nolan looked over to Eddie and towards Jon before he started to speak up about what he had found while doing the medicinal plant harvesting with Nali.

"I found a Terra-spire around the area where we were harvesting those healing plants. It looked to have some power left in it. But given that those things carry quite a punch, I didn't want to set the darn thing off." This had everyone's attention.

"How functional was the device?" Torc said with concern. He like Nolan didn't like the idea of one of these things going off again, especially in a war zone.

"Hey, I'm a Soldier, not an Indogene, For all I know the darn thing might be beeping outside of my hearing range to alert me of a low battery." Nolan said with concern.

"If it does still have a charge, and it is it..." The image of a device with the power of a tactical nuke going off wasn't an image that any of them needed to argue with.

"Well we have a bomb, now how do we get rid of the damn thing?" Eddie said feeling concern. "I mean if we had a way to fly it out of here and let it explode at a safe distance as what happened in Christian Bale's last Batman movie. We might have a chance."

"What if you had a rocket... would that work?" Conte said pulling out his map of the area. "See, while we were out on patrol, me and Nali found this old model rocket in a garage around this area." Conte traced a circle on the map with his finger.

"What if we believe you? I mean it isn't like the rocket it going to be functional after all this time." Jon said with concern and sarcasm.

"The side of the rocket said Google." Conte said as their jaws hit the floor.

* * *

"Wait... you mean you found an old Google Rocket!" Amanda said remembering the image the Pre-Arkfall tech firm. "I mean those guys were into all sorts of crazy stuff, but you guys actually found one of their old rockets?" Nolan and Conte nodded.

"I can still remember seeing the damn thing's Red, Green, Blue and yellow letters marked across the side of the damn thing." Nolan said leaning back in his chair.

"Yeah... and making sure that the darn unit had enough fuel in it was another. I mean that old piece of junk must have had 10 year old fuel in the tank. But somehow Blythe and Amelio were able to remix the tank so that it would at least launch." Conte said looking over at his family and Amanda. "I have no idea of how you guys were able to get that Spire moved to our location. But you guys did it. I mean it took us longer to bolt that damn thing onto the rocket and get it leveled up into a launch position for the plan to take place."

"Hey... You, Torc, Me, and Cooper had to head back to the camp to ensure the civilians were safe. But when Blythe hit the launch button and that spire took off loaded with Eddie's explosives."

"Yeah, the main reason was that the shelling was getting intense at that time and we had to make sure that the barricades held up from the bombardment." Conte said leaning against the wall.

"Yeah..." Nolan paused remembering the situation. "What we didn't know other than broadcasting the fake information to both sides in a Kansas City Shuffle misinformation campaign to ensure that neither side got close to our position was that the damn missile would blow up prematurely."

Amanda looked at Nolan and Conte in shock.

"Wait... you ran a misinformation campaign to prevent the missile with the Terra-Spire on it and the entire plan went to Shtako because the damn thing blew up early."

Both Conte and Nolan nodded in agreement. "We got rid of one mess and wound up with another because of the released energies." Nolan said accepting the mistake made. There was a deep sigh from Nolan at the realization of what he had done. "This is the main reason that I had Doc Yewll mess with the Terrasphere given that her people created the darn thing. The last thing I wanted was a repeat of what happened in San Francisco." Conte moved over and patted Nolan on the Shoulder.

"None of us knew how powerful that device was launched it out of the warzone to protect the civilians. We didn't want that thing taking out both us and what was left of the city. Mostly we just wanted to go boom nowhere near us."

"Yeah, and the shockwave did make a mess of things." Nolan said remembering that day.

* * *

Nolan had heard Blythe's call over the radio.

Whenever one hears the words: "Oh... Shit!" No matter what language it is said in, you know that something epically bad just had happened. Conte and Nolan were racing in one direction to get the civilians on one side of the building in who had been reinforcing the barricades on the west side, and Torc was racing over to get the folks in from the east side of the building with Cooper.

That was when the shockwave hit.

Slabs of concrete started to fall from the once mighty building. Quickly, Nolan spotted the Irathent girl who Conte was helping after she had fallen down. A huge slab of concrete fell down before them. Conte protected the girl's body with his own. That was when another fragment lunged from the roof and given the distance Nolan called out as Conte lunged for cover with the girl.

The shooting and the shelling outside was intensifying as Nolan raced over to help Conte and the girl up and move them over to a more secure location.

Then the back vacuum blast hit as Nolan shoved Conte and the girl against a wall with every ounce of strength he had in his arms. The wail of the wind blowing through the structure was deafening like a Tornado ripping through the Midwest.

Then there was silence. The type of silence that you can hear the blood rushing through your veins, and the light hum of the electrical charge neurons in your brain give off was the communicate with each other.

Nolan felt something wet against his leg as he slowly started to get orientated. Part of the wall of the old building had collapsed and a large section of quickly laid drywall lay against him, Conte, and the girl. With a shove the section of wall fell off of them. Nolan looked up after they had gotten free to see that the Irathian girl had peed herself and that he had been it as well. As Nolan freed himself and got his bearings was what caught his attention was that part of the main wall of the structure had collapsed and outside he saw that most of the what was left of the Bay Area had been leveled.

Hearing moans and groans Nolan called out of there was anyone that could hear his voice.

Then an answer came, it wasn't English but it was someone. Quickly getting to his feet Nolan moved over to fish out the person they was stuck under the rubble. In the minutes that felt like hours Nolan worked with his bare hands to start digging as he started to dig the person out.

that was when a white skinned hand poked through.

Nolan kept digging. Race, Species, home world meant nothing anymore. He had to save the life before him. That was when he pulled free a Castithan Boy who had a human girl wrapped in his arms.

Nolan looked up to see a Castithan soldier come over and, reach down to help him. Looking around Nolan saw other soldiers both Votan and human start working together to help pull people out of the rubble.

* * *

Nolan looked distant as he remembered how his hands hurt.

Amanda and Irisa looked at Nolan with concern as he rubbed his fingers to work out the memory of the ache they had felt while he was digging out survivors.

"I don't know how many people I pulled out that day; I just remember the ones that I lost who had succumbed to their injuries. A human couple, a Castithan elder, I don't know how many babies. a pregnant woman." There was a long pause as Conte leaned in and placed his hand on his friend. "Several children." Irisa could see the pain in her father's eyes as he remembered that day he didn't talk about much to others other than those who had lived through it.

"Hey, you stopped some of your fellow officers from shooting me during that mess."

"What... it took us digging that officer out with a scared out of her wits Indogene girl that stopped them from shooting us dead." Nolan said as Conte nodded.

"What happened after that?" Irisa said getting the feeling where Amanda's speech during the Armistice Day celebration now started to fit into place.

"Well, after both armies got hit by a force equivalent of a nuclear blast, someone needed to be blamed." Nolan said looking at the people in the room.

"We got the short straw as part of that deal." Conte added.

"Because of Renee... She did her best to tell people what happened during the rescue operation and because of the turn of events she got the public to side with us." Nolan sighed. "So instead of turning us into martyrs for a cause, they shipped us off to differing locations." Nolan chuckled at the image as the protestors outside started to get louder around military instillations. It was strange seeing that there were many that had the same idea this war wasn't worth fighting anymore.

"I remember hearing about the protests around New York." Amanda said recalling her own memories. "It was strange seeing how out of one event, everything changed."

"Yeah, and all it took was soldiers from two armies sitting on a live Terraforming device stuck between whether or not to count down from six to five before going off." Nolan said adding that little bit to the story.

The look on Sukar's face was priceless.

"Terasphere, small blast, Tera-Spire very big blast." Nolan reached into his desk and pulled out a flask and took a hard swig before offing the flask to Conte who accepted and took a swig and coughed some.

"So still go for the rotgut." Conte said coughing some.

"It helps from time to time." Nolan sighed as he looked Irisa. "It was what it was." Conte agreed with him.

"It was what was needed. I am not arguing with Irzu after that day." The two war veterans paused for a long moment and reflected upon their lives.

"Father… So… how does Little Wolf come into the story?" Conte's son said looking at his father and one he was named after sensing that there was a larger story of what was after that.

Both warriors looked at each other then they looked at Irisa.

"Irisa, it is up to you whether or not we tell this part of the story. You know because of what took place." Nolan said to his daughter as she reached down and scratched at her wrist before she pulled the wrappings off and looked at the scar. Everyone in the room was looking at the scar.

"Sukar, you have asked why I stay with Nolan. This story is how I came to be with him. Maybe it is the reason that I was able to sense Rynn's pain so well." Irisa said as she looked at her other wrist as if she was choosing her words she was going to say next with the weight a great leader chooses before they are to tell their people of a crisis at hand and how they should overcome it. "Nolan... You may tell them." With those words Irisa got up walked over to get her sharpening stone and started to sharpen her knives.

* * *

Next chapter - The Warriors of Irzu walk into Hell.

* * *

The next chapter ahead is going to be bleak

Also to Risi, thanks for some of the ideas in the earlier chapters, they sure came in handy while writing this.

Now to those who are still reading this. Fill in the box below and post a review. \/

Yes this box. \/ \/ \/

Hearns


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 - The Warriors of Irzu walk into Hell.

* * *

Nolan watched Irisa sharpen her knives. Whenever Irisa got like this it meant one of three things: she was pissed, she wanted to be left alone, or her knives had gotten dull. Nolan hoped she wasn't pissed. But as he watched Tommy walk over to her and place a hand on her arm, Irisa stopped and she looked up.

"I know why you sharpen your knives." Tommy said as Irisa picked the knife up and re-sheathed it before taking out another knife to sharpen it. Irisa stopped after the first few strokes as the warmth of Tommy's hand started to seep into her skin.

"Tommy, I liked it when you read to me." Irisa said as the knife in her hand was balanced and shifted as she rolled it along her fingers.

"Okay, I'll find something to read to you when I get a chance." Tommy said, and Irisa seemed more calm after they had spoken and the knife strokes where more soft and slow in their pattern against the stone.

Everyone in the room took notice as Irisa seemed more or less quite.

"Nolan you were going to tell them how we met." Irisa said with a tone that was more concerned about the others than she was over task she was doing. The knife strokes felt like she was rowing down a river after going through some serious rapids.

This was when Amanda spoke up.

"You said you found her in Denver? How did you get there after the Battle?" Nolan took a deep breath and let it out slow.

"Between all of the stuff that had gone down in the Bay Area and the public backlash, both human and Votan. The Brass decided to ship us off on a Peace Keeping mission just to keep us out of the press in the week afterwards. So starting in early February of 2031 through mid-March of that year the lot of us got shipped off to Denver." Nolan had twitched his fingers around the words _**Peace Keeping**_ to highlight the term to those in the room. "By then Renee and the others we had saved from the fort had started to tell their story so the war was pretty much finished by then. But the Shtako we saw in those final days affected us all in the years afterwards."

For some strange reason Irisa grinned when Nolan made the quotation signs in the air, this was one of the few times she visibly showed emotions to any large group of people.

Sometimes he saw some human Latin language symbols Irisa's Irathient writing, and the writing other Votans he had met during their travels. But given that sometimes the occasional slash, quotes, exclamation marks, greater than, less than signs showed up in some of the other writings of the Votans who had been born on Earth wasn't anything new to him. Seeing how the symbols that were used tended to be surprising given that some of the symbols tended to have different meanings depending on the culture they had drifted into and in some strange way in the years since had started to bridge some of the tensions between the peoples.

Mostly Nolan had seen it in Irisa's math homework and possessive terms that she used while writing in her diary, usually around the words: "My father's decisions turned my life to shtako." It was probably her way of insulting and venting at him for disappointing her.

Lately the quote marks and Latin "T"s had started to show up around some boy's name called "Dark Shadow" or at least a loose translation of the boy's name after Irisa had left her Diary out while out on a call. Irathients and their river references tended to be strange, but for Irisa it was her native language and lately the water terms seemed to be more like a quite stream. So when Nolan noticed that the page she had left her pencil in read:

"I the water felt safe flowing in between the arms of the Dark Shadow as I took in his scent and felt safe as the waves crashed warmly in my belly as he showed me the light of a similar soul and pulled me out of my own darkness."

The mood of Irisa's writing changed as she felt better with the next few pages of her journal given that she had liked this boy and had started to like the people of this place, but not so much the town. This gave Nolan another reason not to disappoint her.

This is when Conte added his slice of what happened to him after the battle.

"For my unit, we got suck being sent flushing out Hell Bugs and destroying their nests in Boulder about that same time period." Conte looked over at Sukar as this topic started to hit closer to home. "Mostly it was a grueling job getting the bugs and eliminating the matrons of the larger nests so that they wouldn't be a threat to those above." At this point Conte looked at his wife and children. "This was before we started finding the dead bodies of children or was left of them in these light burgundy reddish smocks." That was when Irisa scraped at her stone and the knife came free of her hand and she dove down onto the floor and padded desperately for the knife to pick it up as if something was about to attack her.

"Irisa?!" Nolan got up and started towards her daughter then stopped as she found the knife and held it close to her body.

"I'm fine, Nolan." With that Irisa walked outside of the Lawkeeper's office and started to control her breathing. Nolan went outside and after a moment, Irisa let Nolan hug her.

"You didn't know about the others did you?" Nolan said as Irisa slowly rocked back and forth for a second in his arms as let his daughter cry. "Want to walk around for a while?" Irisa nodded. "Conte tell them about what you found." With those words Nolan walked with his daughter around the block to give her some space to think.

"I will Nolan." Conte said. "I remember telling you years ago of what me and the others found. You were right to avenge their deaths the way you did and save this one in the process."

* * *

Amanda watched as the door swung shut and she looked at her own wrists. Kenya's wrists looked the same way as Irisa's had been after Nolan, Tommy, and herself had rescued Kenya and Tirra from that Adreno lab in the downed Stratocarrier.

Given Irisa's age and the events of the Battle of Defiance, she must have been just a bit older than Conte's daughter. Amanda traced her own wrist. She had practically raised Kenya and the image of someone hurting her sister made her sick. Ever since their mother abandoned them in New York, Amanda swore that nothing would happen to her sister if she could stop it.

Now seeing how distraught Nolan's daughter was, no wonder the two of them were close. If she had been through the same Shtako as those two had been with Kenya, she wouldn't have let her sister out of her sight as often as she had done while raising her sister.

Whatever events had brought Nolan and Irisa together were right before her and Amanda knew that if she was to ever figure out Nolan and Irisa this was the time. Hell, Sukar looked like she did, heart in throat and a bit sick to the stomach.

"Conte... You said you found the bodies of children... I'm taking it that Irisa was one of them?" Amanda's question hit like a punch to the stomach.

"Amanda... Nolan found Irisa after we started putting the pieces together that there was a child killer out there." Conte leaned against the wall and looked at the pizza boxes on the desk. "Nolan's unit had heard about some troublemakers hitting places with medical supplies and robbing the places blind. But there was something major that they had found out along with us while tracking down these killers. These folks were raiding medical records looking for specific things. Mostly children." Conte got quite as he exhaled. "Most of the kidnappings in the area were of children both Votan and Human that suffered from what the humans call epilepsy. Our commander and I knew that in some species epilepsy can be treated in such a way where it isn't harmful to their lives. Irathients are one of them given our use of certain tribal based medicinal plants in our diet. Most of the unit that was of Irithi decent had become outraged when we found out that several of the children had been blessed as seers. This came to a head when we found the body of an Indogene who had her medical implant to control her seizures shorted out. After that we were out for blood."

Sukar looked like he was more upset at learning this. This was something that Amanda hadn't known about Irisa- that she was an epileptic. Most of the seer stuff Amanda had heard about Irisa has been hearsay, but given the entire vision attributes that the Irathients had attributed to her might have been her great deductive skills that she had picked up from her adoptive father Nolan. Given what Amanda had heard over the past hour about Nolan, then his reference of a "Bad Place" as he had put it when he found Irisa must have made the Battle of Defiance, both Battles of Defiance including the one she took part in to defend this town against the Volge must have been mellow compared to where he found a scared out of her wits little girl.

* * *

"Sir... We found another dead body." Conte said, as he felt sick to his stomach. Nali was performing a traditional Irathient prayer over the child's body, trying to bless the little girl's soul. This time they had found a Human. Word had been getting around about some cult that was run by some Serial Killing Nut Job was targeting children. So far after checking these nests out and destroying the queens, however these fools were getting in and doing these body dumps must have thought that these Supersize agricultural pests would have gotten rid of the bodies and shredded the bodies to get to the marrow. But that plan these bastards had created had failed when Conte and his now disgraced unit were stuck on the lowest of jobs had started to find these bodies. It was as if Irzu herself had wanted them on this path so that they would find these individuals.

Now word was getting around that this unit of mostly Irathients who had sided with humans military personnel to save Votan civilians wasn't out of the limelight yet. It was as if Irzu wanted them to understand the sacredness and value of life itself so that they stop monsters like this.

Renee Kriby and her knowledge of the press had so far caused many desertions on both sides of the conflict. There were even rumors of a potential Coup being planned by the humans within their own government to sue for peace.

With a serial murdering cult on the loose and starting to make press… People were scared.

Most of the communities that had been devastated by the war had started to grab up these deserted solders and put terms in that if you help protect us, we will protect you from being sent to prison.

Become our Law Keepers.

There were several of his own unit that had been offered jobs like this and right now as a Human Deserter, now one of these Law Keepers came into the tunnel along with several Votan Collective officers and he didn't envy their new job in keeping the peace in this new world.

"Private, what have you found so far?" Conte winced at his new demotion of rank but gladly accepted the fact the Irzu was watching over him and the others that had served in that battle.

"The Body is similar to the others, female, the same type of crimson garment, and the same wounds. Needle mark on the base of the skull, wounds on the wrists and the base of the lower back right into the bones of the spine." Conte motioned them over to the body. "At least this one is fresh by a few hours." Conte reached down and slowly rolled the body over onto the poncho that Torc had laid out and pointed out the injury. "This one has a fresh snake bites on her." This got the attention of the Lawkeeper.

"How do you know it is a snake bite?" with those words Conte held up the now dead snake.

"Found this, and given that it isn't local to the area because it is a river snake from Florida." This had everyone's attention.

"How do you know that?" One of the officers said.

"Because someone chipped the snake with a Votan agricultural tag and my radio has been buzzing the id for the past several minutes." This caught everyone's attention as Conte turned on his radio and the number sequence was transmitted out with the letters prefix FL.

"Okay I trust you on that." This was when the Lawkeeper got closer to the body and he started to study the child's face as he pulled out several sketches in his pocket and started to sort through them before he stopped on the girl's image. "Cassie Halliwell, a... ah, girl of Gypsy decent. I was at her mother's wedding. It was a big clan affair in these parts." The sadness in the man's voice spoke volumes. "Her folks are not going to be happy to hear the news." With those words the Lawkeeper covered the girl's body with the reverence of a parent putting their little one to bed.

"We will do our best to find those responsible and make them pay." the Commander said as Conte felt that he needed to confide with Irzu of what future course to take.

* * *

"I don't know how long it was after we returned to base camp, but I knew along with the others that the war had created monsters, and I don't mean the Hellbugs we were sent in to get rid of." Conte said as his children started to cling to his wife. "There were people that had become monsters so horrendous that their names are still etched in the back of my mind: Black Jonah, Pol Madis, Butcher Joe, Merciless Meh, The Vinesnapper, Acid Bath McGee. But Digo... He took as the Humans call: _**the cake**_ for being just pure evil." Conte got quiet as he pulled out a knife and looked at it. "I have never wanted to kill someone that bad. That creature and his followers did things to those children I don't even want to talk about, but given that circumstances forced the Defiant Few back together. If Irzu wanted warriors to fight to for her and save the people of this world, then the course she put us on was going take us through to get there would go through some very dark rapids and hidden obstacles hidden under the surface of the water." Conte sighed remembering those days. "Once the battle was fought . . . helping Irisa and the rest of those children became our main mission. We didn't know what course would come about but the seeds of the world they would grow up in had been set by our previous actions."

* * *

Conte looked at the pile of stones before him as the small candles lit up the prayer circle.

Glady the Indogene medic came over and sat down, though not a religious woman; her parents had been stationed on one of the ships that had brought the Irathients to Earth sat beside the combat medic. "Praying to the Goddess of Fate." The Indogene slowly recited a prayer to the goddess as over the last few days faith and hope was needed more the cold logic and Conte understood.

"I thought you didn't believe in the Gods?" Conte said as the unnatural creature seemed more vulnerable.

"We don't, but it doesn't mean that we don't believe in the existence of a higher power. Trust me after you meet a being made up of energy, this kind of put things in a different perspective. Sort of like a microbe learning that there is a more complex organism that it is part of doing things beyond its comprehension that might destroy it or help it along." With that the Indogene wrote a mathematical equation in Irathient near the stones that along with the rest of the prayers that were written in the sand spoke volumes about the mindset of the people in the camp. "It doesn't hurt to ask for some help from a being like that when you are in trouble." Conte knew enough math to understand the equation. 22/7 = err 22/7 = 3.14. The math said it all about how Glady felt about what they had found. There was a long sigh from her as Conte looked to see a printout of an ultrasound that she had placed with the stones.

"You are a parent, and you feel the outrage about what has happened to these innocent." Conte said reaching over to his friend.

"We need to find these children, and stop these bastards." That was when Conte saw the chargeblade scalpel in Glady's hand and how it was clenched. Glady was very much a pacifist, but seeing her like this Conte knew that when the person who has taken an oath to do no harm and to heal others decides to start walking down the road of death and vengeance. Things rarely ended well.

"Glady, let me and the others deal with this. You focus on finding out what happened to those children before they died so that we can stop them before the claim the next child." Glady let go of the blade and handed it to him.

"Okay..." Glady said as Nali came over along with a Castithan officer. It was one of the officers from one of the lower Liros that had been tossed into the unit. Seville Dav. He had been at the battle of Defiance and had gotten tossed into the lot as he was given the task of making sure that the civilians had plenty of water. Somehow he and Lina had connected and the guy hadn't ratted them out about the conspiracy to detonate the Tera-Spire at a safe distance. Somehow seeing that Seville was protecting his fellow Castithan's and Votans made up for that decision of disobeying the command to engage the enemy on sight.

"What enemy sir, I was protecting civilians. As far as I was concerned, the EMC soldiers that were in the building with us were deserters and through their actions we were able to save the number of lives we were able to." Was the statement the guy had given and he was sticking to it.

So far the guy had been given a demotion in rank by the brass, but in the eyes of several of the other soldiers throughout the area, the Defiant Few were slowly becoming a legend and Seville's name was up there with Conte and the others. Being knocked down a rank would only be a temporary setback given the way things were going in the military these days. In an month they might have their ranks back just given how things were going in the field.

"Guys, I have a crazy idea, but we have to fly under the scanners with this." This had Conte's attention as Seville looked at his two fellow officers.

"What is the crazy idea?" Conte said standing up from the prayer circle.

"We need help and setting up a joint operation between our forces and the EMC Peacekeeping unit in the area might increase the odds of getting these children back." This had Glady's attention.

"You want to tell the Humans about these pieces of Shtako, they might decide to kill the hostages while taking out the cultists in the process. Remember the Yosemite mess and the number of civilians lost there!" Glady felt sick.

"Several of the victims have been human along with the Votans we have found." This was when Seville handed Conte a file he had in his hands. "Given the last intelligence updates out of the New York area, there is going to be a coup happening in the next few days. This might give us the chance to get in nice with the New Government. The war ends, and we get to head home or for me I get to head to Yuma to meet with a nice woman we all helped save and possibly take her as my wife."

"So if we make this a political move, then we might be able to save these children, smooth." Conte said as he started to look over the file and saw the transcripts of the news reports written in Casti and Irathi on the pages. Most of the articles that started to show up talked about a peace movement starting up on both sides who wanted to sue for peace. The EMC had its hands full with the civilians and some of its higher brass wanting peace, the only reference the humans had to a major outcry for ending a war like this was in their recent history had been the My Lai Massacre back in the late Twentieth century. Even the Votans Collective wasn't immune to this movement given the number of Votan officers of Irathi decent had started to focus their attention on aiding their fellow officers in achieving this goal.

This was when Blyth walked in.

"Hey, I just got word on the EMC unit that is running Peace Keeping operations in the local area. Take a guess who it is?" Conte went from looking from Blyth to down at the stones and groaned. "Irzu." The Goddess either had a morbid sense of humor or she was just as angry as he was over those children who had died and wanted them to pay with all of the blood vengeance she could gather.

* * *

Irisa felt angry, sad, pissed, like Shatko, like her heart had been pulled out, being punched in the stomach. Why had Nolan lied to her? Was what happened to those other children worse than what she had gone through? She could still feel the pain of an artifact placed on her lower back and sensation of it digging into her skin. The sharp pain of a snakebite against her shoulder. Her neck felt like some force was choking her with its thumb across her windpipe as it toyed with killing her or letting her live. That was when Nolan walked over to her and hugged her in an attempt to protect her from the pain of the memories she was now reliving.

"Kiddo... I know that..."

"You lied to me..." Irisa hadn't been this angry since the discovery that her visions were real. That there was a way for her to control them and understand them, Hell, even use them.

But this…

Thinking that the rest of the children who had gone through the ritual had survived, when in actuality they had died and their bones cracked open to become some Hellbug's meal.

Irisa tied to punch Nolan, but given that he had her firmly wrapped in his arms like he had after he had gotten her out of the horrible place when she was a child provided little distance for her to fight back against.

"I didn't lie to you, just that you didn't need to know about the kids who had died. The ones that were going to be after you, they made it. Because of Conte, Nali, and Torc intercepted the cult followers before they were able to make it to their escape route with the remaining children." Nolan said as Irisa felt angry. "Hell, we had our hands full dealing with those bastards before we shipped them off to an EMC prison." This was when Nolan reached up with his hand and stroked the side of Irisa's face. "You were in pretty bad shape. You slept for two or so days after we got you patched and cleaned up. Conte gave you some anti-venom to slow your heart down. You had a rash in places all over your back. Your wrists looked like hamburger meat. The only time you seemed calm was when I was holding your hand while you slept and sang Johnny Cash songs." Irisa remembered the song.

"At my door the leaves are falling/ A cold wild wind has come/ Sweethearts walk by together/ And I still miss someone" Irisa remembered the lyrics of the song. "I must have learned more human language from those songs than you did." Irisa looked up at Nolan. "Tell me about the mission." Irisa said as she slowly started to walk with her Foster Dad feeling that there was a lot more to the events than she had thought.

"Kiddo, well it started when the locals got word that several children's bodies had been found by Votan unit assigned to clear out Hellbug nests. My unit had been out looking for a group of individuals that had been attacking and grabbing medical supplies to make Adreno. Only when we got hold of the records that an Indogene medical officer who had come into the settlement we were at and presented the files to our commander that we got a break on the situation. Hell we didn't know about what had been taking place in nearby Boulder. But when we did . . . well kiddo, it wasn't that we were not going to sit around and let it happen again." This was when Nolan got quiet. "Also the day that I saved you it was the anniversary of the Battle of St. Louis, the day where I lost my family in the crossfire of that fight." Irisa hadn't known this part about Nolan's life from before the war.

"Nolan... you mean, you had a family before you saved me?" Irisa was taken aback by this. That was when Irisa looked towards the arch and had a vision. Nolan in a military uniform, less combat based than the one he had worn when he had saved her when she was about seven years old. Quickly Irisa put her hands up and buried her fingers into Nolan's temples as she had to close her eyes to work through the vision. Irisa could see the love in her eyes, the worry as she walked with the stroller with the baby inside as she talked with Nolan.

"Kiddo..." Nolan's voice was felt through the vision.

"Stef... she was a nice person. Nice hair. Smelled like roses..." Irisa moved out of the vision. "I have never smelled roses." Irisa felt sad as the images of the flowers came to her mind. How she wore her hair as a child when Nolan helped wash it from all of the grim she got into when she was younger. "Tell me about what happened to the children you saved." With that Nolan took her hand and walked with her down the street.

"Well, our commanding officer brought several of the _Defiant Few_ into his tent to talk. Mostly I am thinking that I'm about to be court-marshaled for the crap I pulled off back in the bay area. But it was something entirely else." Irisa listened as she learned the fate of children that had been saved along with her.

* * *

TBC

I have decided to continue this backstory in another chapter to save on chapter length.

Don't worry you will get the rest of it soon. Just that having Nolan and Irisa bond at this point is my way of setting the tone for the next chapter. It sort of takes place around the episode _Brother's in Arms_.

The song that Irisa sings is Johnny Cash's "I Still Miss Someone"

To Risa, thanks for helping me create the character of Glady.

Note: Irisa's name loosely translates to as "water." So the entire diary reference she is playing off the translation of her name and what she and Tommy did on the floor of the Lawkeepers office. So this is a bit of wordplay with Irisa's culture and her using it in a unique way to hide stuff from her father.

Imagine what a high tide surf/beach reference would be like in Irisa's diary… Nolan would have a stroke if he understood it on a cultural level. ;)

To everyone who has read this story so far, please review and let me know what you think of the story so far.


	8. Chapter 8

Defiant as Hell Ch 8: Becoming Family

* * *

This Chapter takes place before the Episode _Brothers in Arms_.

Also thanks to Risi for pointing something about Irisa's name and who got the chance to talk with Defiance's Irathient language creator David J Peterson (aka Defiance's language guy) who helped in doing research for this chapter.

Hope that you all enjoy.

Hearns

* * *

Nolan told Irisa the story.

* * *

Nolan sat by the bed of the young Iriathient girl he had saved from those cultists. She was sleeping for the first time in hours peacefully. Between the coordinated actions of Human and Votan units, several children had been saved.

No matter how you sliced it, this was a win in his book.

Peacekeeping operations were going well, but seeing this young seven year-old girl whose age was close to that of the child he and his late wife Stephanie had made him think about his life. After the Yosemite massacre incident, Nolan had hated the Votans, but now seeing this scared kid. Something had changed in him. Even after the Battle of Defiance, he just saw a little red-haired girl.

That was when the girl started to get upset and scared again as she started to kick under the sheets, then she calmed down some. What in the name of the Gods of the Eight races had those people done to this girl? In time he would be able to get her to talk about it, maybe someone with a background in mental health might be able to aid her in her PTSD and overcome it.

Nolan looked down to see the girl's feet had come out from underneath the blanket and she didn't seem to be calm. Nolan had figured out after the first few times that as long as this girl kept her feet warm, she tended to sleep better. Reaching over, Nolan covered her feet and patted them. This got the girl's attention as she opened her eyes and looked at him and grinned.

"Ahiha." she said as she snuggled closer into the crude pillow and went back to sleep.

That was when Eddie and Jon came into the field clinic. The two soldiers had seen how Nolan had changed when this little girl had practically thrown herself into his arms after shooting two of the cultists down when they had drawn weapons on the group.

"Nolan... the Major needs to talk to you." Jon looked down at the girl and the white bandages on her wrists.

"Listen, right now." Nolan said looking at the girl. This little Kiddo had been through so much, she needed to have someone there for her until they found her family, or some kin that would take her in. "I'll go but, one of you guys stay with her." Nolan said getting up from the bed as slowly as possible to ensure the girl didn't wake up.

"Alright." Eddie said taking up Nolan's place on the bed. "I'll do it, but you owe me man." Eddie said as the girl rolled onto her side closer to him and pulled her knees to cling around him with her entire body.

"Hey, stroke the side of her face, she likes that and it will keep her calmed down while I am out." Nolan said moving over to Jon.

"Don't worry I'll make sure that she stays here until you get back man." Eddie said keeping an eye on the girl.

* * *

"I should have told Eddie that you bite when you are scared." Nolan said as they made the loop around the block.

"Still do..." Irisa said feeling a little better about things.

"Well, when I went to see the Commander he was not in a happy mood to see me."

* * *

"Joshua Nolan, you have been either a disgrace to the army or a war hero. Right now I don't know which way you are swinging, but so far the locals are glad that this mess on their hands is over." The Major said as he walked around the command tent. "So far we have solved at least several murders, brought a ring of adreno sellers down, and returned several children to their families, despite the fact that the Votan Military also was involved as well I am not arguing with you. But in the last forty-eight hours, you have spent most of your time in the medical tent keeping an eye on that Irathient child that you pulled out of that mess." Nolan got the feeling that the other shoe was dropping. "Mr. Nolan... you are to hand over the child to the personnel at the refugee camp." This stopped Nolan cold.

"Sir, the child..."

"What, you gone soft... This is war son, you are ordered, you fight. Now given that bullshit that you pulled off saved a lot of lives, though there are other offenses that..." the Major pulled up a large hefty file and dropped it on the desk. The thud and impact got Nolan's attention as he knew most of the crap he had pulled was bad, but the fact that his file was an old school dictionary thick. Not pocket edition thick. Public library had been there since it opened its doors to the public, thick. Most of it was being held together by rubber bands that could be used as a belt. "... Shall I say, makes your career in the service look interesting indeed."

That was when the Major opened up another folder and presented it to Nolan.

"The Votans are worried that these cultists got hold of some major military hardware from a rogue program. Given that we broke them up, there is some bad news after their docs and ours looked at the remains of those children along with what happened with the girl you brought in. These cultists might have planned on setting off some sort of gray goo, nanotechnology terraforming bomb using the girl as a trigger device or turn her into some sort of Votan super soldier or suicide bomber to use against either side." Nolan started to feel that the situation with the girl might get messy given the political hot potato that got tossed into both governments laps.

"Your team may have set this rogue element back, but given that that girl you and your unit saved may have been the closest that anyone has gotten to creating one of these devices and making it operational." Nolan sense that the Major had called him in for a completely another reason and this wasn't a shoe dropping situation, it started to feel like a mission briefing... and a need to know one at that. "The girl, survived whatever they were doing to her, so given the weirdness that you and your men described, you broke up the last bit of it. So they were close to putting the damn thing in, or at least gotten the initial hardware installed into her before they got her/it programmed." There was a change in the Major's mood as he walked over and sat down on the edge of the desk. "I have seen too many weapons destroy way too many people during this war." This was when the mood of the Major changed.

"A few hours ago, I got word that I was to hand over the child to EMC research and development under the guise that she was going to be sent to a relocation camp. I realized it was shit when the name Jonah Keller's showed up on the document." Nolan got the feeling that this was going to be a Black Ops mission. "Nolan... I have seen that girl bring something out in you son, something that this world desperately needs... Hope. I know give your track record with the Votans, isn't the most upstanding, but something happened to you back in San Fran that made you start giving a damn about people. I don't know if it is in your mind trying to put things right about what happened in Yosemite with those innocents that got killed. But, the last thing I want is to have another child splayed open and used like some sort of lab rat so that they can make a better weapon to kill people. I prefer a: "We don't got it; You don't got it" concept to weapons of mass destruction."

"Sir... are you asking me to, go on the run with the girl?" Nolan felt that this was where it was going.

"Given your profile of disobeying orders, and fighting through insurmountable odds; yes." This is when the Major leaned in. "But that was off of the books." This was when the Major's mood changed. "This is the point where Bob Parr from the Incredibles on you. Remember that scene where Bob is working as an insurance agent and he is helping/denying service to the little old lady at the start of the movie." Nolan got the hint.

"Yeah, I remember that scene, where he does the..." Nolan got the idea of what was going to be taking place.

"What I am telling you to do is this:" Nolan listened closely. "I am not telling you to go and desert the unit and go on the run. I am telling you not to talk to your fellow officers to aid you in running away. I am not telling you to ask your Votan military friends to tell you where there are settlements where you can go into hiding and get a new identification. I am not telling you to search for Votan tech to get that mess out of girl or at least make it unusable to anyone. I am not telling you to make sure that this girl grows up and has a happy life. Do you understand these orders Mr. Nolan?" Nolan got the point.

"I understand Sir." Nolan got the point as he looked down to see the tablet computer on the desk and saw a Photoshop program up on it. On it was a face of an Irathient woman, and next to it looked to be a picture of the Irathient girl he and his unit had saved. But in a way it wasn't. "Sir, how far did you think this ahead?" Nolan got the feeling that the major was going to make the girl he had saved very hard to find.

"Long enough that your mission should have a head start to avoid these bastards by a few hours." This was when the Major looked down at his watch. "You have thirty-six hours to get your butt moving because they arrive in forty-eight as of now."

"Yes. Sir!" With that Nolan walked out of the tent.

"And Nolan... do you know the girl's name?" Nolan stopped for a moment and turned back as the Major started to sketch some more on his Photoshop image.

"No, so far I have been calling her Kiddo. Why do you ask?"

"Just forging... filling out some paperwork here." Nolan realized that the Major was making sure this kid had a life and it was his job to ensure it happened.

* * *

"Wait... you mean your unit's commanding officer was the one that ordered you to leave with me?" Irisa felt strange. "Because of what Daigo put into me?" Nolan sighed.

"No..." Nolan reached up and caressed the side of his daughter's face. "He ordered me to make sure that you grew up happy. A request I am trying my best to keep." Nolan traced the hair out his daughter's eyes. "Most of the tech in you is on par with being a standard Indogene with implants. Other than some quick healing from anything short of a gunshot wound and the occasional Votan Ark door opening. You are just a regular girl."

"That has visions." Irisa was upset on that part of her recently discovered heritage. An aspect that Nolan kicked himself every day since the entire mess with Rynn several weeks back had taken place.

"Yeah..." Nolan sighed as rubbed her back. "Understanding the finer points of Irathient culture wasn't one of my strongest suits."

"I feel so like an outsider." Irisa said rubbing her arms. "I know more about human customs than my own people's. Birthday's, Sleepovers, sweet sixteen parties, my first bra, Christmas, Easter, Halloween Candy."

"Hey, you raided houses that gave out Red Hots, and Atomic Fireballs." Nolan said as Irisa rolled her tongue in her mouth.

"I miss that stuff from back in Yuma." Irisa said sighing. "All I remember of those days was being safe. Being a normal girl." Nolan felt the sadness in her voice. "Was what they did to me the main reason we moved around a lot other than those times you did some dumb shtako?"

"Somewhat. Mostly, we moved around because of my past. Sometimes we had to get out of town because of some bastard out for my head for deserting, or because of the mess I caused in Yosemite." Nolan felt the side of Irisa's face as he moved back into talking about his past. "But breaking you out of the military base we were at was the hardest."

* * *

Nolan walked back to the barracks where he had left the Irathient girl. So far he hadn't been able to get her name out of her. Seeing Conte and Nali in the camp did make things go a little better given the situation with the girl. Conte was nursing the wound on his arm from where the girl had attacked him with a shiv made out of a broken piece of plastic when he had attempted to treat her. The girl was traumatized to the point of being nearly feral. The only way Conte had been able to treat her for the poisoning was for Nolan to hold onto her and let her know she was safe. The girl knew how to fight to survive and had the will to match. Given all of the crap that had been done to her, the kid had decided to go down swinging and the wounds on her wrists spoke it in volumes.

Nali had done her best to talk to the girl, but somehow had been able to coax some details out from the girl about what had happened to her. Nali's use of native Irathient seemed to make her seem like less of a threat to the girl but only when Nolan was around. The rest of the time, the kid now covered in Nolan's poncho moved like a wounded animal trying to pretend to be a kid.

The girl was messed up and for some strange reason she had seen Nolan as being as someone that wouldn't hurt her. Nolan had heard stories about police officers when they had found children who had been through a traumatic experience that they clung onto the officer that had found them even after they had been treated. In their mind that person meant safety and protection from harm. So far the Irathient girl seemed to act, well the only word he could come up with was "Human", and only that when he was around. The rest of the time, she seemed to be hiding in the shadows and moving like an animal as if she was wary being around so many people. It had taken him and Nali some time to get through to the girl but even then, there were good days, and there were bad days.

Now realizing that to give this girl the chance a normal life, he would have to go on the run from his own government and he had less than thirty-five hours to do so.

Nolan was used to operating behind enemy lines, but now he would be doing it the rest of his life.

Hearing the words of the child that had died from one of the snap traps back in the Bay area. "Save the next one." echoed in his mind.

The scared golden-green eyes of the Irathient girl he had saved confirmed the request of that dying child.

This was the child he had to save. And to Hell with it. He was going to keep his word to the child even if it cost him everything.

That was when a scream of pain could be heard throughout the camp. Running towards the commotion, Nolan found it was coming from the barracks. As he blew through the flaps of the tent he saw Eddie struggling to get free from the Irathient girl who had clamped down her teeth onto his finger.

"Eddie... what did..."

"Nolan... get this... fucking Irath off of me..." Eddie was doing his best to get a grip on the girl to force her to let him go. Nolan raced over to grab the girl and forced her and Eddie to the floor. Nolan reached out and got the girl's attention as she gritted in anger. With a soft brush of his and across the side of her face and down her cheek, the girl's eyes focused on Nolan and she slowly released her bite on Eddie be still had the soldier's finger locked in her mouth.

"Hey Kiddo... I'm here. You are going to be safe." Nolan said as the girl searched the room for threats and huffed a few times before she spit out Eddie's finger and dove into Nolan's arms. The Fight or flight instinct in this girl was still up to eleven, hell fifteen. Nolan could feel the girl shake as she dove her nose into his unwashed uniform. After several moments the girl calmed down as she, though still feral, looked around at the individuals in the room. Eddie who was wrapping his finger up in a green combat neckerchief shook his hand a few times to knock down the pain traveling through it. This was when the girl spoke: In English.

"You gone, me alone... he touched my face while I sleep."

"It's okay kiddo. I'm here." Nolan said as the girl shot a look of anger at Eddie.

"Why you gone..." The girl worked through something as she dove back into her native tongue being more flustered in her limitations in the English language. Nolan felt for the girl given her situation.

"To look at the situation of what to do next." The girl tilted her head trying to sort through the words. Then Nolan in his best I'rathi that he had learned in high school explained the situation to her. _**"I'm trying to find you a home."**_

_**"A home ?"**_The kid looked at the calendar on the wall and stared at several numbers circled on it. _**"No la'n and I'ris'a be in this home?"**_

"Yeah." It took Nolan a moment to process the fact that the girl had said her name. "You finally said your name." The girl looked a bit scared as she drew back some. "It's not a bad name." Nolan reached out and pushed some hair out of the girl's face. "Irisa..."

"You like I'ris'a name?" Irisa traced the hair on Nolan's eyebrows.

"It's a good name." Nolan said as Irisa pinched her finger onto an errand hair on one of his eyebrows and pulled it free and felt it in her fingers. Irisa started to act like a kid again as she started to study Nolan, not as some feral animal but as curious young girl who had encountered her first alien and maybe possible parent.

"I'ris'a like name too. It is not Shtako." Nolan turned towards Eddie with a glare of very nasty disdain look in his eyes.

"Okay, this tent just became a curse free zone." Nolan said looking at the soldiers in the room.

"Hey... I..." Eddie raised his hand in defense as he buried his injured hand under his armpit to protect it from Nolan's potential for violence.

"Irisa is a kid. Understand that. That means that any lude, rude, crude or any other course language should be kept to a bare minimum or at least when she is in earshot." There was a nod of agreement among the soldiers in the tent. "Good." With that Nolan reached into his pocket and pulled out a Plumpy-nut bar and handed it Irisa and she tore into it sucking down the sweet vitamin filled peanut buttery goodness of it.

"No Man. Listen I know that you have this entire thing after Fort Defiance for saving the innocent, but do you think saving one I-rath..." Nolan glared at Eddie so hard that Eddie realized that he better not use a racial slur around the kid or Nolan would deck him so hard into unconsciousness that a week would go by before the guy woke up. "...ent kid is going to make a difference for all the blood that you split during this mess." Nolan gritted his teeth before biting his lip to restrain himself.

"No..." But with a glare of convection that Nolan hadn't realized he was giving as the soldiers in the ten started to take long step back.

"Nolan... Man. Listen what did the major say about the kid?" Coop said realizing that Nolan was becoming real protective of this little girl.

"That I have to make some decisions for the both of us that will have some long term consequences." Nolan said as Irisa moved over behind him worried. "I have to talk with Conte and Nali about some stuff for Irisa's sake to make sure she is going to be alright. But I am going to be back in a bit; there is something major I need to talk to all of you about." With that Nolan took Irisa by the hand and led her out of the tent.

* * *

"I remember that day... Nali... she sat me down and started to tell me stories about I'rath and the moons and the Great Spirit leaders. It was the first time I heard the words Irzu, Idanyu, and Gyaamashaa. Nali said that she was a servant of Gyaamashaa as she wrote on my bandages and said that Irzu was watching out for me by sending her warriors to find me." Nolan had always wondered what Nali had talked about to Irisa that had the girl so captivated as he had asked Conte for help and advice on the subject. "What were you and Conte talking about?" Irisa said feeling that this was the other side of that day.

"Well Kiddo, me and Conte were talking about possible places where I could hide you."

* * *

Nolan talked to his Irathient brother in arms from the battle of Defiance with the occasional look over his shoulder to see how Irisa was doing. Somehow the girl was attached to every word that Nali was saying with wide eyed wonder. Somehow the brainwashing the kid had gone through was slowly but surely being broken. In the last little while Nolan had gotten some information that he hadn't known about the post-Arkfall world, that other than the settlement in Yosemite, there had been other Votan and human settlements spring up across North and Central America. Omec wasn't one of them, but due to a generational shift that was slowly breaking down because of Arkfall. People needed supplies and food and somehow the Arkfall accident had done what the politicians couldn't have done.

Placed everyone on equal footing.

But so far Nolan had found out that there had been several Irathient settlements along the old Mississippi River and along the coast of Georgia. The largest ones happened to be in those areas. Only a few tended to be near human settlements and those happened to be what used to be St. Louis, Jackson, and the New Orleans and the Mobile area.

St. Louis, who knew that his old home town would have a huge number of Irathients in the area. Conte commented that there was a lot of farmland up there and a small human town was nearby. For Nolan there were too many memories in St. Louis. But he had at least two areas he might be able to head off to where Irisa might be able to feel safe.

Then there was Yuma, but given his history with some of the new arrivals, they might find him there as of yesterday. No making sure that Irisa had a life was the important thing and hiding in a place where they wouldn't find him and the girl was the important thing. Nolan had made the decision and decided to go to a place where there were enough individuals to hide and a place where he could at least stomach the food.

As Irisa listed to Nali Nolan decided to state his plan to the others and asked Conte to go and get them.

* * *

"Remember that place that had all of those gardens in those back yards?" Nolan said as Irisa nodded. "Well that was New Orleans. The place practically has been rebuilt so many times after the global warming storms like Katrina and Arkfall that that was a place I knew that we could hide. Mostly the plan was to make it look like you were going to be dropped off at the refugee camp and Eddie would get another vehicle so that we could do a card shuffle to throw the guards off. Well the plan worked as the vehicle that we all swapped provided us the ability to make it look like I had gone AWOL." Nolan continued along. "Nali did her best to make it look like you had died or at least ran away. Amazing what happens when you get a change set of clothes that she had been able to get hold of. That and the blood samples she had been able to draw from you to make sure you didn't have anything in your blood."

"I remember bits of that night." Irisa felt uncomfortable but now understood more about her father than she did. Nolan hadn't been lying to her all these years, just at this time, letting her know the truth of that night brought his daughter back to him. "I remember the ball cap and the glasses, and the fact that you made me wear that cammo stuff on my face and skin."

"Well I had to make you look like a human girl, and the bugs in the area were trying to eat you alive. The only thing I had that worked decently was the desert cammo paint I had, and it had insect repellant in it."

"Those first few days were like a dream. Your clothes changed." Irisa paused and smelled the Asian food from one of the stands. "I remember that duck blood pizza stuff." Irisa said as she looked around where they were at. They had circled back around to the Lawkeeper's office. Amanda slowly walked out the door and saw them as Conte waved for them to come in. Sukar looked like he was about to throw-up after seeing something pretty bad happen on a scale that Nolan knew only a few soldiers and warriors could have seen.

Irisa moved slowly in as she looked at the people in the room around her. That was when Sukar walked over to her and placed his head on her forehead.

"Little Wolf. Very few of our people have faced the trials you have. Even with the combat trials that were used to select the warriors and individuals to come to this new world. You have earned that status of Spirit Leader and not have realized it."

_**"Spirit Leader!?"** _Irisa said in Irathient. Nolan had heard the term a few times when it meant the leader of some group of Irathients, but given the context here that Sukar was using, it meant something more. _**"I haven't been in that many battles of fights..."**_ Irisa looked concerned and so was Nolan.

_**"Being given the title of Spirit Leader is something more than being someone who has fought in great battles. It is also a statement of one's strength of character. There were those of us who fought during the trials to board the arks to come to this distant land. A few of us who earned the title not for our skill in combat, but for the very fact we survived great hardship and were willing to place ourselves in harm's way to save others."**_ Sukar caressed the side of Irisa's face. _**"Little wolf, you fought to survive your own battle of survival against Daigo and his followers. You didn't break, you fought like the kashinki you are and you bear the scars of that battle."**_ Sukar reached down and took one of Irisa's hands in his own. Irisa looked uncomfortable as he traced the scars on her wrists. _**"Irzu sent warriors to save you, and provided you a father after your own parents abandoned you. One of your predecessors that I came into contact with as a child predicted your arrival. She said that you would need to learn our ways, but knew of the people that we would have to befriend and fight against so that we might live our lives in peace."** _Sukar looked up at Nolan. "Had I known that you were a warrior chosen by Irzu, I would have not had been so rash at our first meeting No'lan."

"I'm a father, Irisa may not have been born of my flesh, but she was raised from my heart. I have done my best to raise her with a moral code so that she might live her life. It hasn't been easy... there have been mistakes made, but also learned from." Sukar nodded at this.

"I too had the same experience with Rynn. There was much pain in her life." Sukar got quiet as he saw Nolan in a new light. "I did my best to raise her with a moral code. That of the Outlands. A respect for life and nature." Sukar rubbed Irisa's cheek with his thumb. "When she came into the Spirit Rider's camp, terrified and scared. She didn't want to give me her real name even though I knew it. So I gave her a new name so she might leave the pain in her past. Like you did with your name. I' ris' a, you wanted a name that meant something of life, or a girl name a flower of life, why did you pick those terms?"

"Because, I wanted to be free. I knew enough i'glasi to understand numbers, plants and animals. There were pictures on large sheets of paper that were circled in places in the tent where Nolan lived. On this sheet of paper were in boxes and several were checked off one of the images was of a girl in a white dress close to my red one: Iris, I thought it meant me?" Irisa was slowly revealing what her name meant. "I wanted a sounded like a human name... Iris. A girl with a flower for her name who played a on the clouds and delivered messages to people. She loved rainbows." Nolan hadn't really asked why Irisa had identified with that name, but when you are dealing with a scared kid. Sometimes making up a name probably would make you feel safer.

Remembering the old Playboy calendar and the botanical guide that had been plastered on the wall of the tent things slowly fell into place. Irisa had seen the image of the scantily clad woman and thought it was how attractive girls dressed. The plant guide that ECM had sent out to units was to see what Earth based plants had survived Arkfall. Whichever unit checked out and identified large numbers tended to be given some R&R time. Nolan kicked himself for not noticing it years earlier. That was probably the reason liked wearing those one shoulder tops when she was younger. She thought of herself like a Greek Goddess or thought that was the style that human girls wore for their normal clothing. That was until she needed her first bra and the underside of her breasts started to hurt when she ran.

"You are safe now, and given that haven't taken your tribe name makes the name Tishinka that much more important to you." Sukar put his hand under Irisa's chin and lifted her face up. "The little wolf that wouldn't stop fighting." Irisa felt calmer now in realizing that Sukar's moniker for wasn't to insult her, but to honor who she really was.

"Thank you," Irisa said feeling safe in her skin again.

"No... Tishinka, you have earned the name and the rank of Spirit Leader. These are two things that cannot be taken from you." Sukar said as Nolan realized that this was a major event in Irisa's life taking place.

"Spirit Leader... that would give the same rank as you in your tribe?"

"Being a Seer, does grant you that rite, but also your wounds reflect it. You will be welcomed to any tribe that wishes to take you in." Irisa didn't know what to say. This was some major Zaza Sukar was giving Irisa.

"I don't know what to say..."

"Accept it and say thank you Tishinka, Daughter of Nolan of the Defiant Few."

"I will accept the title... Sukar." That was when Irisa started to look faint. Quickly Sukar and Nolan grabbed Irisa to keep her from hitting the floor as the strength went out from her legs.

"Irisa..." Nolan called out as Irisa went into her vision state as she convulsed by the onslaught of images hitting her.

"Quick, get some sabdi out of my pack." Sukar said as Nolan watched as Conte dug through the Spirit rider's backpack and got the vial of the drug out. All Nolan could do was hold onto his daughter as Conte administered the drug and Irisa calmed down.

"I'm here kiddo. I'm here." Nolan said as Tommy, Amanda, Sukar, Conte and Conte's family moved back to give them space in case something more happened.

"Should I get Yewll?" Amanda said not knowing what Irisa had gone through was bad or really bad.

"You should let her see a doctor. At least so that I can get a look at Irisa's blood chemistry, but as of now. Given this little..." Conte motioned to Irisa. "... reaction. I am putting Irisa on the Seers Diet, and making sure that she sticks to it." With that Amanda went out the door to get Yewll. Nolan felt as worried as any father would seeing his child in pain. But now, he knew that in a long time, his daughter could at least start having a normal life.

* * *

TBC

* * *

Let me know what you think so far.

Next chapter will be Irisa seeing the past and some of the future.

Hearns

* * *

Note: Plumpy-nut is an actual product used by relief organizations to help treat malnutrition. It is a vitamin and calcium enriched peanut butter paste that is designed to help boost the weight in malnourished children and keep them healthy enough to fight off infections that might claim their lives.

I put it into the story because it is something that might be carried around post-Arkfall America to help with dislocated individuals given how simple it is to make. That and it is a whole lot more kid friendly than your average peanut butter, power bar.


	9. Chapter 9

Defiant as Hell Ch. 9: Vision Quests, Quests of Visions

* * *

This is a light chapter full of filler, but it sets up some of the stuff that has to do with Irisa's powers.

Also, I am putting in some of Meh's past in. ;) for some fun.

Italics - means the speaker is speaking in their native language.

* * *

Irisa knew that she was in a vision.

But this felt different.

_"Hello Child._" Irisa knew that this was the past but she could move, which was very disconcerting to her. In her limited experience she usually had a stationary position to view events from. But this felt like a dream where she could walk around.

Irisa turned towards the voice to see a woman standing in what looked to be a traditional irathient house. Irisa had only seen a few of them while growing up with Nolan during their travels, but this one felt like it had been around for decades… perhaps centuries.

_"How can I move? This is the past?"_ Irisa said to the woman as she felt that stating the matter before her would make the situation make more sense.

_"Your past, my people's future."_ The woman said walking up to her. _"A bit on the short side."_ The woman said looking Irisa up and down. _"How many winters old are you?"_

_"Nineteen... I think..."_ Irisa said feeling very uncomfortable before the elder. _"I was raised in the Badlands by my father during our journeys. We didn't have an accurate calendar to work with there."_

_"Um..."_ the elder spoke as she looked at Irisa. _"Warrior throwing knives sheathed on your back, your taste in leggings is strange. So are your boots."_ Irisa shifted some as the woman grinned at her. _"Is this the traditional garments of your tribe?"_ Irisa felt concerned.

_"No... It is the garments I used when I used to Ark Hunt with my Father."_

_"Ark Hunt? Why would you hunt down an Ark?"_ The woman said with curiosity.

_"Ark Hunting is what I used to do with my Father... It is ship salvage. When I was very young, there was an explosion on one of the Arks that brought our people to this world. The explosions and debris crashed into the other ships in orbit and caused a buildup of wreckage from the other ships in orbit. Many died that had not yet been awakened. Given the vastness of the fleet, the ships tend to crash down to the planet below every few months. Sometimes there are survivors that have been found in the pods that have survived the explosions and the crash down to the planet below. The rest of the time, it is to get materials and tools that we can use to survive on this world."_

_"Why did the ships explode?_" Irisa felt uncomfortable.

_"I guess that they were old, the parts just wore out after being used for so long. They were several thousand years old. Something had to break. When one exploded, debris crashed into another one and it just cascaded from here destroying the remaining ships in orbit._"

_"What about you, were you born on the Arks?"_

_"No... I was born on the planet."_ Irisa said seeing the woman question her. _"This is the only home I know. Mostly since I was young, my father wanted to take me to Antarctica. It is near one of the Polar Regions, since Arkfall, the day the ships exploded, it became a paradise."_ Irisa felt a twinge of guilt. _"But we didn't get there; we are currently living in a town called Difaaigyaants. We had to sacrifice our payday, a terasphere that would have paid for our passage to Antarctica to save the town. For our troubles my father was given the title of Lawkeeper."_ The woman looked at her quizzically._ "A Law Keeper is one that keeps the peace in a settlement, prevents violence from breaking out among the locals and outsiders. I am one his deputies... one that aids him in keeping the peace."_

_"Are you happy with your role?"_

_"Somewhat... I want more...I have had my dreams dashed to many times._"

_"But there is something more, something you found in that place that keeps you there. Something that makes you happy."_ Irisa nodded at this.

_"A boy…. He is different. I…"_ Irisa felt uncomfortable talking about talking about her sex/love life with a stranger._ "He has gone through some dark times like me, but there is a connection there. He doesn't push, he just lets things unfold. He is like a gentle stream against the strings of my heart."_ Irisa felt like it was her term to ask questions._ "Are you a seer like myself?"_ Irisa knew the answer but hearing the woman say it made it stick.

_"Yes, child I am." Irisa felt uncomfortable. "You haven't experienced a vision like this have you."_

_"No... I haven't experienced a vision like this one. I have had others, sometimes they are of the past, and sometimes they are of the future. But this is the first time that I have been in one like this."_ The woman grinned.

_"This is the first one I have had that reached so far into the future."_ The woman said motioning her to the chair around a simple table whose top was covered in several drawings. _"I am Rynn."_ The name more startled Irisa than anything else._ "Irisa... but I am known to some of my fellow Irathients as Tishinka."_ Irisa didn't know if saying her name would insult the woman or scare her off. Irisa looked down on the table and the drawings that caught her attention. _"These are Arks?"_ Irisa had only seen them as wrecks or pictures of them intact in history books like Nariah's.

_"Pictures that my grandson Sukar drew."_

_"Sukar!?"_ This got Irisa's attention.

_"You know of him?"_ Rynn said looking at Irisa.

_"Not sure... Does he have a thin scar down the right side of his face going over his nose?"_

_"No, but in the visions I have of him in the future, he does."_

_"Black fur coat, goggles, and strange hat that is sort of like a cylinder with a flat round brim around it."_ The woman nodded in confirmation of this. _"That is him. The leader of the Spirit Riders."_

_"What type of person has he grown up to be?"_

_"Decent... a bit of a troublemaker, but slowly meeting the people the settlement part way and a spiritual guide that is helping me understand my gift. He is a understanding person when it comes to seeing a larger picture of what needs to take place with our people. Amanda is doing her best to help guide him into working with the community more and heal the wounds caused by an incident that caused some bad blood between the settlers and the locals in the area. Amanda has her work cut out for her; she has her hands full in dealing with Datak Tarr since he joined of the council. Piece of Castithan Shtako. He should have left Elah Bandik alone, disgrace to Liro be damn! Banish the man, exile him...just don't kill the man for being scared." Irisa didn't want to talk about it, but it was coming out. "He was scared. he ran, the Volge just came at us, the settlement with so much firepower, the towns folk had to pin them down with weapons fire so that they could detonate a teraform device to take them out, The only reason I fought was to buy time when the explosion to destroy the Volge didn't go off on schedule so they could reset the charge to set it off. Sukar and the other Spirit Riders were beside me as we bought them time to save the settlement. We ran like creatures feeling the underworld just to get out of range of explosion."_

_"Did you see, Elah's death?"_ Irisa nodded.

_"As a vision before it happened."_

_"There are some visions we cannot change, others we can."_ This is when the woman knelt down before her and caressed the side of Irisa's face. _"The trick is understanding there are visions we can change, while others are meant to happen in the stream of time."_

_"I could have done more..."_ Irisa pleaded.

_"But, what happened as a result?"_

_"I became more determined as a Lawkeeper to protect the people of the settlement."_

_"What else?_"

_"There was outrage by the Castithan youth that Bandik's death for something so minor. if the guy had hurt a child, murdered someone, shtako... blown up a building. The punishment would have been worth it. But for such a small infraction against Castithan law, slitting a guy's throat for being scared of the Volge wouldn't have been worth it."_

_"Do the youth feel the same way?"_ Irisa hadn't realized was a bigger picture that she was being forced to see.

_"Don't know... i don't know that many Castithans. Even then I only know Alak Tarr, even then my Father helped clear his name of the crime of murder he didn't commit because he wasn't around when the crime took place. Alak was with murdered boy's sister at the time at a celebration dance."_

_"Is this Alak related to Datak?"_ Irisa nodded.

_"Alak is Datak's son, why?"_ The elder grinned.

_"The death had implications too; Alak will be less likely to perform such actions in the future for such a minor offence."_ Irisa hadn't seen it that way as the generational divide between the young Castithans and their parents had become more prevalent throughout Defiance.

_"You sound like Amanda. The leader of the settlement."_ Irisa said sensing that this person knew more about what it was like to live with this gift than she did.

_"Having a gift like ours is difficult, but not without advantage. Sometimes it can provide us with comfort in our darkest hour in knowing that one day our enemies will fall, or that the bad events will shape events that will help us protect others in the future."_

_"I could have done more?"_

_"Irzu wanted you to learn. Not all lessons are meant to be easy, but they are meant to make an impact on our lives and shape us to be better."_ The Elder seer reached out and touched Irisa's face. _"The time is coming where you have to return to your own time and me to mine." Irisa looked at the woman. "It was good to hear that my grandson grows up to be a great warrior and leader of our people. For you, you will have many trials ahead of you in the new world that you live. They will shape our people for generations to come and your name will become known to all."_

_"Rynn... Thank you... For helping me not be afraid."_

_"I to, Tishinka. Have a safe journey back to your land and time."_ That was when Irisa awoke.

* * *

"Hey kiddo..." Nolan leaned over a kissed his daughter on the forehead.

"Nolan..." Irisa felt a little foggy, but more comfortable with herself. "I had a vision, I think..." Irisa reached up to feel something on her head.

"Well, you can take off the nural scanner off of her head." Yewll said looking over at the readings on a peice of her equipment.

"Is she going to be alright Doc?" Nolan said as Ywell looked at her readings.

"Well, given that her neuro chemistry was all over the place five hours ago, her brain has settled down."

"Well, putting Irisa on a seers diet should settle things down." Yewll nodded at this with Conte.

"I agree with you there. Putting Irisa on a diet high on the phytomedicinals for her condition should help her regulate her medical condition, Conte."

"Well, considering that you haven't changed all that much from when you were young Meh. Though a lot more mileage on you." Nolan swore Yewll was blushing.

"Yeah, you did walk in on me and my lover when we were sneaking in a chapter of the Karma Sutra." Yewll said clearing her throat.

"Yeah... You were less reading it than doing it." Conte shook his head. "And I didn't know Indogenes could be that limber."

"I'm still that limber, just that I keep that part of my life private."

"Like Niky..." Yewll looked like she was about to kill Conte.

"Niky and I parted ways a long time ago, after I got dumped for a younger intern who was more limber. Then years later Niky tried to talk me into doing some harebrained scheme, when i found out what it was, I left Niky... again and that time I dumped that Piece of Shtako's stuff at the door and not have spoken to that..." Meh cleared her throat and perfectly announced a phrase that given Nolan's understanding of the Various Votan languages was not sutible to be heard by children within a seventy kilometer radius and a ton of soap to clean out the mouth afterwards.

"Ouch..." Conte said as Nolan blinked with his jaw on the floor.

"Yeah, I took up jogging after that first time to put my energies somewhere productive." Yewll seemed to relax more. "Still do... even after Niky round two."

"Wait, is that the reason that you started to run with me and the other Iraths when we worked up in the Portland area?"

"Yeah." Yewll said grinning. "That and a few of the runners on the trail had some great buttocks. Made me forget about Niky and the Shtako about the break up. I was wild back then, I just needed more stability in my life than having my brains Fracked silly out of my skull by my supervisor every other evening."

"Okay..." Nolan said getting the feeling that he now knew more about Yewll than he should have in the last few moments. "More information than I wanted to know."

"I'm older than i look, and a woman doesn't tell her age... that and sex is a physical athletic activity." Yewll hinted as she headed out to grab some medication.

"How long was I out Nolan?" Irisa said sorting out the images that Yewll had a life before Defiance.

"A few hours. Things got a little scary there for a bit."

"Sukar. He..." Irisa felt ashamed at what had happened.

"He understands. If it wasn't for the stuff he had in his pack, your vision would have been worse."

"You don't believe i have visions." Nolan sighed.

"Kiddo, whatever it is you have, Conte and Sukar know more about how to treat it than I do." Nolan sighed. "I am out of my element here." Irisa looked at her father concerned. Nolan didn't get this way unless he really screwed up. "I should have brought you more in contact with your people sooner. Got you more help." Irisa reached up and caressed the side of his face.

"You did what you knew among your own culture was best for me." Irisa didn't hate him. "I need to explore my heritage. But I am still your daughter." That was when Irisa watched as she saw someone standing behind Nolan. "Sukar."

"Tishinka." Sukar looked at Nolan as Yewll and Conte brought over the medication for Irisa to take. "You are right, I need to meet you halfway'. There is so much of the culture you were raised in that i do not know about, and you have questions about your own heritage."

"I do." That was when Yewll handed Irisa cup of a strange smelling tea.

"Drink..." Yewll said as Irisa sniffed the glass and she winced.

"Irisa, the tea before you is used to help seers after their post vision state. It sort of smells bad right now, but given Irathient noses tend to be sensitive to some scents, it should help keep your head from swimming against the flow and into the rocks." Nolan didn't get the reference. "Just drink it slowly." With that Irisa lifted the cup and drank. Nolan could smell the herbs but as Irisa finished it she took the cup away and winced at the taste.

"Tastes weird..." Sukar grinned.

"It was my grandmother's recipe. She gave the same look on her face after she drank it." Then Irisa gagged for a moment as she finally got a full breath in. "And now it has worked."

"Shtkao..." Irisa coughed out as she took in another breath. "What was in that?"

"Now, your head should not feel like it has been hit by the rocks of the river." Irisa waved for several seconds to force the scent from her nose.

"Irisa!" Nolan leaned over his daughter concerned. "Are you alright!?"

"Nolan... guess that I just found something to give you for when you have a hangover." Irisa said as her eyes were watering like crazy.

"Guess that you can hear the backboards of the mice being pounded on in the walls of the NeedWant?" Yewll said as Irisa winced through the pain as her brain chemistry was balanced.

"Hear... the mice. I can tell which ones are in threesomes." Irisa groaned.

"is Irisa going to be alright?" Nolan said with concern.

"Well, given that what she went through on a neurological level was significant, she just needs some rest." Irisa shot Yewll a sour face. "Given how moody she is, I doubt that will happen."

"I'll do my best to make her rest." Nolan said as Irisa flopped back onto the pillow.

"Great, Shtako and more Shtako to deal with in my life." Irisa said like the moody teenager she was.

* * *

After a day or so Irisa decided to take a walk after the Pol Madis mess had played out. Nolan had done his best to convince her otherwise that she didn't need to head off to the Irathient settlement, but when she knocked on a door of Tommy's place Nolan realized that his daughter wanted to talk to someone other than him. Tommy was the closest thing she had to a Friend in Defiance and she needed to talk this out.

"Nolan, I am just heading to Tommy's to just talk and have a bite with him." Nolan watched as Irisa walked down the street to Tommy's apartment and knocked on the door. Tommy came to the door and Irisa walked in taking a open door as an invite to enter the premises.

"Irisa, Nolan... Hi." Tommy watched as Irisa chewed her lip. "You said that I could come over. I need to talk. You said that you had my back, now I need you to do that."

"What is it Irisa?" That was when Irisa walked over to the door and started to close the door. "Nolan... I will be back a little later to get some stuff. I'm heading to the Irathient settlement with Tommy. There are things I need to do there with him that I can't with you. You wouldn't understand. He is more open about what needs to take place and I told Amanda about some of this."

"What does Amanda know about it?" Nolan said as Irisa closed the door with the words:

"Ask her, and she will tell."

Irisa looked at the door for a long time after she felt her hand against the steel of the storage container.

"Irisa, what is it?" Tommy said walking over to her.

"I just learned about my Uncle Eddie. Eddie Braddock. The stuff that he did to save me." Irisa looked concerned.

"Irisa, what did you learn about the guy?"

"Tommy what do you see when you look at me? A Irath? A human girl? A lawkeeper? A...freak."

"I just see you." Tommy said as he stepped forward and took Irisa in his arms. "...just you."

"I don't know what I am." Irisa said as she pushed her nose into his chest.

"And you want to go to the Irathient settlement to find out?" Irisa nodded.

"Is this official business or is this something that you made up to get Nolan out of our hair?"

"Amanda knows." Irisa said as she let down some of her guard, but she did have a knife in hand. In this case there was literally a knife in her hand.

"Want to tell me about it?" Tommy said she looked across the small structure that was Tommy's home.

"It is like since I got to this town, I have been pulled every way that I don't like. Too many people, Too many needs, wants, desires, contracted air. I feel closed in."

"You want to be back in the badlands. Where things made sense." Tommy caressed her cheek. "Where you knew what was right or wrong. Where you did what you wanted and no one criticized you that it was wrong." Irisa reached up and took Tommy's hand and sucked in the warmth of his touch on her cheek.

Irisa's nod spoke volumes.

"I want to do this without Nolan... He raised me, but he doesn't understand. He... Raised me like a human girl. I'm an alien! "

"You know that you have a heritage. One that if it wasn't for your screwed up brainwashed parents, you might have had a chance to experience." Irisa nodded.

"I know the facts, the language, some of the rituals, but..."

"You see it through the eyes you were raised with." Tommy ginned. "Why do you want me to come?"

"You're different." Irisa said moving closer. "You see me for me..." Tommy reached over and brought her closer.

"So... you want to head to the irathient settlement not only to learn about what you need to eat to treat your visions, but to dive into your heritage and learn who you are." Tommy leaned down and kissed her on her forehead. Irisa blushed, or the Irathient equivalent of it given her orange skin. "I believe in the pre-Arkfall days this was called a road trip. A few youths traveling on a trip away from the parental units to have some fun and learn who they were." Tommy nodded. "I gladly accept your offer."

"Good. Pack for cold weather, bring extra blankets and bring a good pair of boots." Irisa said as she turned and headed for the door and stopped. "Tommy, I had a dream about you. Well your past. You better bring a deck of cards with you so you can tell me about it. Shadow Protector." Irisa looked back and grinned before she headed out.

* * *

As Irisa and Tommy followed Conte to one of the several settlements that had emerged during the mass exodus that had taken place from Defiance eight years earlier was strange. For Irisa the landscape almost felt like she was returning the Badlands. Irisa felt like she could breathe once again. Tommy turned and looked at her for a moment as they went down a straightaway path through the valley area.

"You know, you look like you are about to stick your head out of the window like some dog with his tongue out." Tommy said as Irisa looked back at him.

"What?

"This is the happiest I have seen you." Tommy held off a beat before he added: "Ever. That is including the time we had sex."

"I can breathe." Tommy watched as Irisa rolled her shoulders and stretched out like a cat. "Feels good. Like a dream... vision I had when I was young... Not a bad one."

"Want to tell me about it?" Irisa looked at Tommy with concern. "I mean, if you know what is about to happen, remembering it might help things out."

"I remember the warmth of the sun, and some of the cooking. But it is the sound of a heartbeat that sticks with me."

"Heartbeat?" Tommy noticed that Irisa seemed calm about it.

"Yeah, a heartbeat." Irisa said as she relaxed more as she noted. "Conte is making a turn."

"I see him." Tommy said as he made the turn on the road and saw several Irathient caravan wagons set up with a mix of rollers, quads and motorcycles surrounding the camp. Irisa watched as Conte got out.

Several individuals came up to Conte that looked to be lightly armed. Mostly long range rifles and what looked like to be the occasional assault weapon. Irisa recognized Aren, Conte's wife and a few Spirit Riders that she had seen around Defiance, but most of the individuals there didn't have that rugged wild feel of the Spirit Riders that Sukar usually ran with.

Even the Spirit Riders of the Group seemed to be more clean cut. That was when Irisa saw Nariah running out to her father as Tommy brought the roller to stop beside of Conte's roller. Irisa watched as Conte knelt down to her daughter and give her a hug before the little girl saw Irisa in the roller.

"Irisa... Tishinka..." The girl was out of her father's arms and sprinting over to the door of the roller jumping up to look through the window as Irisa opened the door and got out.

"Looks like there is someone here to see you." Tommy said getting out. That was the time that Tommy stopped cold by the feeling of cold steel against the Adam's Apple of his throat.

"You are not welcome here human." A female voice said. Irisa got out and walked around the roller to see Sukar getting off of his motorcycle and Irathient who looked to be holding Tommy at knifepoint looked to be just old enough to be wearing her first bra.

"Zekka, leave Tishinka's friend alone." Sukar said as the girl slowly removed the knife from Tommy's thoat.

"Tishinka!?" the girl looked over at Irisa and back to Sukar who just nodded. The girl looked very unnerved. "This is Tishinka's..." there was a loud gulp from the girl as she slowly took a step back from Tommy. "Friend."

"Zekka... is it?" Irisa said as she moved forward with her hands raised. _"Tommy is my friend. A fellow Lawkeeper, he watches my back. He is my Partner."_

_"Partner?!"_ Zekka was looking to Tommy and back to Irisa.

"Yes, my Partner..." Irisa said as she reached over and touched the girl and got a few flashes from the images of Zekka's past. "You're one of Rynn's friends. Though not a Spirit Rider." Zekka gulped hard. Irisa took a more soft approach to Zekka. _"You looked up to her as a mentor. She taught you about insects. Something you liked. How to create those little sample jars and some of the flower patterns you like that made that place in the field seem like home."_ Irisa touched the girl's face. _"I did not slay her. But I had to put her on her path of where she needs to be."_

_"You Sent her to Vegas... Do you know what they do to people in Vegas!_" Zekka looked scared and a bit angry. Irisa had heard the stories of people that went to Vegas and just disappeared never to be heard from again.

_"She didn't go to Vegas. She went to the Bay Area."_ Irisa grinned. _"She is using her gifts to deal with the Hellbug problem there. She is finding her way. Though if she can keep one of her new friends sober during that girls night her Indogene friend is hosting, the better."_

_"You... had a vision of her?"_ Zekka said a bit scared and less angry now.

_"She and I share deep wounds in our past. It is difficult not to have a vision or two of someone whose path down the river is so close to your own."_ Irisa caressed the girl's cheek. _"Don't worry, she will return once she lets go some of the anger in her heart."_

"Tishinka..." The girl handed Irisa the knife. "I am sorry." The girl looked defeated as Irisa noticed that Rynn and this girl shared some history together.

"Tell me about Rynn. How do you see her?" Irisa said as the girl looked her confused.

"You are a seer, you should know that!" Zekka spoke harshly.

"I only get to see moments, segments of a person's life. I'm not with them all the time." Irisa stepped forward and touched her forehead to the girl's "You were. You know the path of her past. Also you might tell me how come she is able to see or sense my spirit form."

"She sees your spirit form?" This got the girl's attention and Sukar's.

"She does..." Irisa felt a little uncomfortable about saying this but in a way it spoke to her inexperience as a seer. "Scares the Shtako out of me. Others I am able to not be sensed by. Rynn she is different... She just glares at me knowing that I am fully there."

"She always glares at people. She said it makes her look meaner." Zekka said touching Irisa's face. _"Most people think that if an Irathient looks mean, they will back down. She does it to scare Humans and Castithans. But she was cheerful when I knew her."_

_"And I was raised by humans..."_ Irisa kicked herself feeling like her own inexperience with her powers is what had put her at a disadvantage when she projected herself out of her body. This was something she needed to work on before she even did another remote view on Rynn. Realizing that Zekka knew Rynn as a clan sister might be her way at understanding why Rynn was the way she was when it came to treading other indivudals. Irisa already knew the big events of the female Irathient's life, but not the stuff that shaped Rynn into the woman she was. "You said you knew her from before." Zekka nodded. _"Tell me about your clan sister so I might see her through your eyes."_

_"My eyes?"_ Zekka said in shock. _"What do you mean?"_

_"I have only seen her through her eyes and those of her parents. Not that of a sister._" Irisa grinned._ "A seer sees, but does not have perspective without context. Something I have learned from speaking with my predecessor."_ This caught Sukar's attention.

_"Your Predecessor?_" Sukar said concerned.

"The one of this clan." Irisa said grinning. "The same one that you named your daughter after."

_"Oh, Shtako..."_

"Nice drawings that left on the table when you were a child. Though I got more from the experience than telling her about you." Irisa said feeling that things were coming full circle for Sukar and herself.

"Okay, Irisa... you are seriously getting disconcerting." Tommy said as Irisa ginned.

"No... This is the first time I am starting to feel like I am truly myself." Irisa said closing her eyes and taking in a deep breath to fill her lungs with the wildness of the natural world. "I am not a freak. I am a child of Irzu." Irisa grinned. "Oh and Sukar, I saw the baby picture of you where your grandmother was giving you a bath."

Tommy looked over to see Sukar mumbling something in Irathient that he got the feeling that whatever Irisa knew about that picture was the type of stuff that would put people into therapy.

* * *

I used the Irathient spelling of Defiance for Irisa to state where she lived to the elder Seer, given the "Murphy Defiance Language Guide" that I found online to spell it right.

Let me know what you think of this chapter so far. Please Review!

Also, let me know what characters or stuff that you want Irisa to go through at the Irathient settlement while she is there?


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